Selling alcohol, tobacco and vapes without putting the licence at risk

Greymill AcademyUK7 min readReviewed Oct 202619 primary sourcesUS version

The short answer

The ages, the defence that protects you, the fireworks sale windows, keeping the licence live, what to do after a failed test purchase, and the tobacco and vape changes landing between October 2026 and March 2027.

The takeaway. Challenge 25 is your defence, not the legal age, and mandatory in Scotland. Log every refusal, sign off training, and add birth-year prompts to tobacco keys by 1 January 2027.

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Written for owners of independent shops and small chains in the UK: convenience and grocery, newsagents and off licences, fashion, gifts, hardware, and garden and farm shops.

The short version

  1. Treat Challenge 25 as your defence.Challenge 25 is practice, not the legal age: its value is the defence it builds. In Scotland it is mandatory.
  2. Log every refusal and sign off training.Have your DPS (designated premises supervisor) check the log. Add till prompts and signed training records: that evidence proves your defence.
  3. Add birth-year prompts to tobacco keys.From 1 January 2027, selling tobacco or cigarette papers to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 is an offence (As of Oct 2026).

If you sell alcohol, the premises licence is the business. Repeat underage sales can lead to a closure notice, a licence review and, at worst, revocation. And between October 2026 and March 2027 the rules on vapes and tobacco change four times.

The ages at the counter

  • Alcohol: 18.
  • Tobacco and cigarette papers: 18, and from 1 January 2027 never to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
  • Nicotine vapes: 18. From 29 October 2026 the age of 18 covers all consumer nicotine products, including nicotine pouches and nicotine-free vapes.
  • Knives, corrosives, butane lighter refills and the National Lottery: 18.
  • Fireworks: 18, or 16 for category F1 items such as party poppers. Aerosol paint: 16.
  • Films and video games: the age on the BBFC or PEGI rating.

These are the ages in England and Wales. As of Oct 2026.

The rule

Fireworks can be sold only in set windows

In England and Wales, without an all-year licence you may sell adult fireworks to the public for private use only from 15 October to 10 November, from 26 to 31 December, and on the first day of Diwali or Chinese New Year and the 3 days before it. Storing them needs registration or a licence. For example, a garden centre that sells rockets on 12 November without an all-year licence commits an offence. As of Oct 2026.

Fireworks Regulations 2004 reg 9; Explosives Regulations 2014

The rule

Your defence if an underage sale happens

In England and Wales, for alcohol the seller must have believed the buyer was 18 or over and taken all reasonable steps, which means asking for convincing evidence of age unless the age was obvious. For tobacco, and for nicotine vapes until 28 October 2026, the seller must prove they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence. From 29 October 2026 for vapes and nicotine products, and from 1 January 2027 for tobacco, the defence becomes taking all reasonable steps. Buying for someone underage (a proxy sale) is an offence. As of Oct 2026.

Licensing Act 2003 s.146(4) to (6) and s.149(4); Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s.7(1A); Children and Families Act 2014 ss.91 and 92(4); Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 ss.1 and 10

Challenge 25 is practice, not the legal age. Its value is the defence it builds. The evidence that proves the defence is your refusals log, till prompts, signed training records, CCTV and the checks made by your designated premises supervisor (DPS). The mandatory conditions on an alcohol premises licence in England and Wales also require an age verification policy: photo ID with a date of birth and a hologram or ultraviolet mark from anyone who appears under 18.

AvoidTraining staff on Challenge 25 once, by word of mouth, and keeping refusals in their heads.
Do this insteadA refusals log the DPS checks, till prompts on age-restricted lines, and signed training records.

When a test purchase goes wrong, the log and the signed records are what show you took all reasonable steps.

Tobacco and vapes: the dates to diary

  1. Since 1 October 2026: vape duty stamps.Vaping Products Duty is £2.20 per 10ml of liquid, nicotine or not, with a duty stamp on every retail package. Buy only from HMRC-approved suppliers. Disposable vapes have been banned since 1 June 2025. As of Oct 2026.
  2. 29 October 2026: nicotine age of sale.The age of 18 extends to all consumer nicotine products, including nicotine pouches and nicotine-free vapes. Vending machines and free giveaways of vapes and nicotine products are banned, and buying them for an under-18 becomes an offence.
  3. 1 January 2027: the generational ban.It becomes an offence to sell tobacco, herbal smoking products or cigarette papers to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. Put a birth-year prompt on tobacco keys.
  4. 31 March 2027: unstamped stock.Unstamped vape stock released before 1 October 2026 can be sold until this date, never after. Reprice first: for example, replacing 400 unstamped 10ml liquids means 400 x £2.20 = £880 of duty on the new stock.

Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. In Scotland, Challenge 25 is mandatory and you must be on the Register of Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Product Retailers before any sale; Northern Ireland has its own register.

AvoidFor example, a Swansea off licence still pricing a 70cl bottle of 40% vodka at £16.99 in October 2026.
Do this insteadRepricing every alcohol line to at least 65p x strength (ABV %) x volume in litres: for example, 65p x 40 x 0.7 = £18.20 for that bottle.

Wales raised its minimum unit price from 50p to 65p on 1 October 2026, matching Scotland (65p since 30 September 2024). England and Northern Ireland have none. As of Oct 2026.

The rule

Keep the licence live

In England and Wales, every alcohol sale must be made or authorised by a personal licence holder. The premises licence annual fee falls due on each anniversary of grant, and if it is unpaid the licence is suspended. Personal licences no longer expire. As of Oct 2026.

Licensing Act 2003 ss.19 and 55A

If you fail a test purchase

  1. Tell the DPS.Before anything else.
  2. Preserve the evidence.Keep the CCTV and the till data.
  3. Call a licensing solicitor.Before any interview under caution.
  4. Pull your records.The refusals log and the training records.
  5. Get ahead of a review.Offer voluntary conditions before any review hearing.
The rule

Persistent selling, closure notices and reviews

In England and Wales, selling alcohol to under-18s on 2 or more occasions within 3 consecutive months is persistent selling. Instead of prosecution, a closure notice can suspend alcohol sales for 48 to 336 hours. Either can trigger a review, where the licensing authority can add conditions, remove the DPS, suspend the licence for up to 3 months or revoke it. As of Oct 2026.

Licensing Act 2003 ss.147A, 169A, 51 and 52(4)

From 1 January 2027 the law will stop you selling tobacco to some adults with valid ID. A customer born on 3 February 2009 who shows a passport in March 2027 is 18: alcohol and vapes yes, tobacco and cigarette papers never.

Asked in Greymill

Example question and answer from Rules & Licensing
You
Off licence in Leeds. We sell beer, wine, cigarettes and vapes. Staff all know Challenge 25, I told each of them when they started. Trading Standards are doing test purchases round here. Are we covered?
Rules & Licensing
Not on paper, and paper is what counts after a failed test purchase.

For alcohol, your defence is that you believed the buyer was 18 or over and took all reasonable steps (As of Oct 2026). Telling staff once won't prove that. These will:
Refusals log: every refusal written down and checked by your DPS (designated premises supervisor)
Till prompts: on every age-restricted line
Training records: signed by each member of staff
CCTV: kept as evidence

Two dates for your tills:
29 October 2026: the age of 18 extends to nicotine pouches and nicotine-free vapes.
1 January 2027: no tobacco or cigarette papers, ever, to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. Add a birth-year prompt to your tobacco keys.

Shall I draft a refusals log and a training sign-off sheet?

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Your question

I run a shop in the UK, in [England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland]. We sell [alcohol, tobacco, vapes, nicotine pouches, knives, fireworks, lottery]. Draft our age-restricted sales policy with the age for each product, our Challenge 25 wording, acceptable ID, a refusals log template and a training sign-off sheet, and list every tobacco, vape and fireworks date between now and 31 March 2027 that needs a till change.

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More for shops and physical retail in the UK

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Sources

The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.

  1. Licensing Act 2003 s.146 (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  2. Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s.7 (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  3. Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 reg 3 (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  4. Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.141A (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  5. Offensive Weapons Act 2019 s.1 (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  6. National Lottery age rule (Gambling Commission licence conditions; DCMS announcement) (Age-restricted sales: ages, defences and records)
  7. s.19 (Alcohol licensing)
  8. Deregulation Act 2015 s.69 (Alcohol licensing)
  9. s.55A (Alcohol licensing)
  10. s.147A (Alcohol licensing)
  11. s.169A (Alcohol licensing)
  12. s.52(4) (Alcohol licensing)
  13. England 2024 Regulations and devolved equivalents (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  14. Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 Part 6 (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  15. each instrument, display prohibition (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  16. guidance (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  17. HMRC release and guidance (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  18. DHSC release; local authority briefings (Peterborough, Hinckley and Bosworth) (Tobacco and vapes: the law today and what is coming)
  19. Mandatory Licensing Conditions Order 2010 Sch 1 para 3 (as amended 2014) (Deliverables in house style)

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