Any responsible authority or interested party can apply to the Licensing Authority for a review or a premises licence or a club premises certificate. In the latter case a member of the club can also apply.

An 'interested party' includes:

Any person living in the vicinity of the premises and/or any body representing such persons

Any person involved in a business in the vicinity and/or a body representing such persons

 note:  this does not include either a local MP or the local authority

The person seeking the review must complete an application form. A copy of the application, together with any accompanying documents, must be given to the licence or certificate holder and each of the responsible authorities on the same day that it is given to the Licensing Authority.

The Licensing Authority can reject a ground for review if it is not relevant to one or more of the licensing objectives or if it is not from a responsible authority if it is frivolous, vexatious or repetitious. It will be repetitious if it is identical or substantially similar to:

A previous ground for review in respect of the same licence which has been determined

A representation considered at the time the original licence application was determined

Excluded representations following a provisional statement and a reasonable interval has not elapsed since that representation

A review will also take place if the police make a closure order

The Licensing Authority will display a notice that it has received an application for a review at or near the premises, at it's offices and on this website. Other interested parties or responsible authorities will have 28 consecutive days (or seven consecutive days in the case of a closure order) starting on the day after the application is received to make relevant representations. To be relevant such representations must be about the likely effect of the application on one or more of the licensing objectives and must not be frivolous or vexatious.

What should you do before calling for a review?

It is strongly recommended that to strengthen your case you take certain steps before calling for a review.

Firstly you should make sure you have made complaints direct to the premises concerned, and possibly also the head office. It is frequently the case that the licensee will say at the hearing that this is the first time he has heard of any problems and he/she would of dealt with them had they known. You should record  the date and time of any conversations and keep copies of any letters.

Next, if the matter relates to noise or anti social behaviour you should contact the councils noise and anti-social behaviour service and for crime and disorder issues the police. These services, as a responsible authorities, can also call for a review as these are their special areas of responsibility. They can not do so if they are not aware of the problem and the licensee will usually draw attention to the fact that they have not done so which could weaken your case.

You should keep a diary detailing rowdy or noisy behaviour (available for download below).

You may also wish to contact your local ward member who may be aware of other persons experiencing similar problems and who would wish to join with you to take combined action.

A request for a review should include copies of any written evidence you have accumulated. Also the Licensing Committee will give appropriate weight to your comments based upon whether you are willing to attend personally. You should be willing to speak before the committee.

Decision making

A meeting of the Licensing Committee will consider the application and any representations and if it considers it necessary to promote the licensing objectives:

Modify the conditions of the licence or certificate (permanently or for a period of up to 3 months)

Exclude a licensable activity from the licence (permanently or for a period of up to 3 months)

Remove the designated premises supervisor (where one is required)

Sspend the licence or certificate for a period not exceeding 3 months

Revoke the licence or withdraw the certificate

- Application for Review