Written for owners of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, pubs and bars, takeaways and delivery kitchens, food trucks and bakeries with seating, anywhere in the UK.
The short version
- Pick the route before you fill in anything.In England and Wales: a TEN (temporary event notice) for one-off events, a minor variation for low-risk changes, a full variation for more alcohol hours.
- Apply early enough for the notice period.Each route has its own notice period and fee. The wrong route wastes both the fee and the weeks.
- Replace a departing DPS the same day.In England and Wales, alcohol sales stop with no designated premises supervisor (DPS). Hold the premises licence and a personal licence? Apply to name yourself.
Your premises licence was granted for the site as it was. Every change you make during the year, from a beer festival to a later Saturday to tables on the pavement, has its own route, notice period and fee, and the wrong route can stop alcohol sales. This lesson covers England and Wales under the Licensing Act 2003. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different licensing law, so check which applies before you act.
Temporary event notices (TENs)
A TEN covers up to 499 people at once, staff included, for up to 168 hours. Give a standard TEN at least 10 clear working days before, to the council, police and environmental health; a late TEN is 5 to 9 working days. The fee is £21. Each premises can have 15 notices and 21 days a calendar year. A personal licence holder may give 50 a year (10 late), anyone else 5 (2 late). Police or environmental health may object within 3 working days, and an objection to a late TEN ends it. As of Oct 2026.
Licensing Act 2003 ss.98 to 110 (limits s.107)
Minor and full variations
A minor variation covers changes that cannot hurt the licensing objectives, such as layout, conditions, adding late night refreshment or cutting hours. The fee is £89, a white notice goes up for 10 working days, and the council decides within 15 working days. It cannot add alcohol or extend alcohol hours: that needs a full variation with 28 days' consultation. As of Oct 2026.
Licensing Act 2003 ss.41A to 41C (s.41A(3)) and s.34
A minor variation cannot extend alcohol hours. The wrong application wastes the fee and the weeks.
Other changes owners make
- Pavement tables in England: a pavement licence costs at most £500 new and £350 to renew, with 14 days' consultation and 14 days to decide or it is deemed granted, for up to 2 years (Business and Planning Act 2020 Part 1). Drinking at those tables still needs your licence plan to cover them. As of Oct 2026.
- Music: live and recorded music between 08:00 and 23:00 for up to 500 people in premises licensed for on-sales is not licensable. Copyright is separate: you still need TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS.
- Planning in England: a restaurant or cafe is Class E(b), but a pub and a hot food takeaway are sui generis (a class of their own), so a cafe turning to takeaway can need planning permission whatever the licence says. In Wales, check the use class with the council's planning team.
The day the DPS walks out
Replacing the designated premises supervisor
With no DPS in place, alcohol sales stop at once. If you hold the premises licence and a personal licence, you can apply that day to vary the licence to name yourself as DPS and ask for the change to have immediate effect, so sales restart once the council receives the application. The fee is £23. As of Oct 2026.
Licensing Act 2003 ss.19, 37 and 38
| Weekend wet sales lost | £9,000 |
| Less the cost of drinks you did not pour (30% at a 70% wet GP) | -£2,700 |
| Contribution lost | £6,300 |
This is the cost if nobody can be named as DPS that evening. If you hold a personal licence yourself, the £23 variation filed that evening restarts alcohol sales once the council receives it. In Scotland the rules differ: the board is notified within 2 days and sales can continue while the licence is varied (Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 s.54). As of Oct 2026.
When the licence itself is at risk
- The annual fee: it is due on each anniversary of the grant. If it goes unpaid, the council suspends the licence after at least 2 working days' notice (Licensing Act 2003 s.55A). Diarise the date. As of Oct 2026.
- Failed test purchases: two in 3 months expose you to prosecution with an unlimited fine (s.147A) or a closure notice (s.169A). Decide which way to go only with a licensing solicitor.
- A review after a serious incident (s.51): agree conditions with the police licensing officer before the hearing, such as SIA door staff, CCTV kept 31 days, a refusals log and an earlier last entry.
- An event too big for a TEN: the 499 cap includes staff, so cap tickets below it, or add the extra space to the licence by full variation.
Martyn's Law is coming, but its main duties are not yet in force and are expected in spring 2027. As of Oct 2026. If 200 or more people can reasonably be expected on site at once, counting staff and the garden at peak, you will need to notify the SIA (the Security Industry Authority) and keep written procedures. Count your peak occupancy now and write a one-page procedure.
Asked in Greymill
What you need: a full variation of your premises licence. It runs 28 days' consultation (As of Oct 2026), so plan your first late Saturday around that.
A minor variation is only for low-risk changes, such as layout, conditions or cutting hours.
Need one late night sooner? A TEN (temporary event notice) covers up to 499 people at once, staff included (As of Oct 2026):
Fee: £21
Notice: at least 10 clear working days before
Limit: 15 notices and 21 days a calendar year per premises
Police or environmental health can object, so it is a stopgap, not a plan.
Give me your target Saturday and I will draft the notes for your licensing solicitor.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Contracts & Disputes works it through for your business.
I run a restaurant, cafe or bar in the UK. The site is in [England or Wales]. I want to [hold an event for about [number] people / trade later on [days] / put tables outside / replace my DPS]. My licence currently allows [hours and activities] and [name] holds a personal licence. Tell me which route applies, the notice period, fee and latest date to file, and draft the notes for my licensing solicitor.
More for restaurants, cafes and bars in the UK
- Pricing a dish and a pint so the GP survives VAT and wasteSet menu prices from what a plate really costs, find the gap between the recipe card and the stock count, and know how many covers you need to break even.Read the lesson
- Getting through the rent quarter day when VAT and payroll land togetherTakings arrive every day but rent, VAT and PAYE arrive in lumps, and a rolling 13-week cash model shows the squeeze weeks before it hits.Read the lesson
- Charging the right VAT on eat-in, takeaway, meal deals and service chargeWhether food is zero-rated or standard-rated turns on where it is eaten, whether it is hot and what it is, and the wording of a service charge decides whether a sixth of it is VAT.Read the lesson
- Taking, renewing or buying a lease without losing your right to stayWhether your lease has 1954 Act protection decides whether your fit-out has a future, and the deadline in a section 25 notice or a pub tie trigger cannot be missed.Read the lesson
- Sharing tips fairly and paying casual staff without a claimHow to set up a tipping policy and tronc that stand up, what a casual hour really costs once holiday pay is added, and the rota rules that catch late-night sites.Read the lesson
- Getting more covers without falling foul of the price, review and platform rulesThe channels you control earn the most, and the rules on showing service charges, asking for reviews and signing platform deals decide what you can do to grow.Read the lesson
- An allergic reaction, a food poisoning complaint or the council closing your kitchen: the first 24 hoursWhat to keep, who to call and what not to say when something goes wrong in the kitchen, and the insurance conditions that decide whether you are covered.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every restaurants, cafes and bars lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- Licensing Act 2003 ss.100, 100A, 107; Fees Regs 2005 reg 9 (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- s.107 (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- ss.104 and 104A (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- ss.41A to 41C; s.41A(3); Fees Regs 2005 (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- Business and Planning Act 2020 ss.1 to 3, as amended by LURA 2023 Sch 22 (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- Live Music Act 2012; LRO 2014 (SI 2014/3253) (Tens, variations, pavements and music)
- ss.19, 37, 38 (Hard cases: licensing)
- Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 s.54(3) to (5) (Hard cases: licensing)
- s.52(4) (Hard cases: licensing)
- ss.147A(7) as affected by LASPO 2012 s.85; 169A (Hard cases: licensing)
- Late Night Levy (Required Amount) Regs 2012 Schedule (Hard cases: licensing)
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 ss.2 and 3, Sch 1 (Martyn'S law: substantive duties not yet in force)
- Overarching factsheet, commencement; SI 2026/320 regulation 2; SI 2026/622 regulation 2 (Martyn'S law: substantive duties not yet in force)
- deadlines (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)
- returns (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)
- s.55A (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)
- TPR re-enrolment (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)
- Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regs 1989 Sch 1 (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)
- s.87 (The calendar: licence fee, VAT, PAYE, tips, rates and fire checks)