Legal: Off sales and pavement licences update
The government consults on changes to the Licensing Act 2003. TLT reports.
May 24, 2024
Following the recent announcement that the pavement licence regime (initially introduced as one of the Covid-19 easements) is to be made a permanent fixture for the hospitality sector, the government is consulting on whether changes should be made to the Licensing Act 2003 to make it easier for businesses with a premises licence to sell alcohol for consumption in an adjacent licensed pavement area.
Three possible options have been proposed:
- Make current arrangements permanent. This would mean that on-sales only licence holders would automatically be able to continue to do off-sales without the need for a licence variation.
- Extend the definition of on-sales to include consumption in a licenced pavement area. This would mean that on-sales only licence holders would be able to automatically sell alcohol for consumption in an adjacent licensed pavement area without any need for a licence variation.
- Amend the Licensing Act to permit on-sales only premises licence holders the right to make off-sales to any area for which there is a pavement licence.
A copy of the consultation, which remains open until the 11 July 2024, can be read on the gov.uk website.
Written by Ewen Macgregor, partner at national law firm TLT.