Supply of Alcohol Hours
Your opening hours cannot be shorter than your alcohol service hours. It might sound obvious, but many applications get this wrong. Make sure your opening hours are the same or longer than your alcohol supply hours.
Remember, the council specifies when you can sell alcohol, not when your doors need to open or shut. Do not feel like your business needs to stay open until the hours you specify. It is your business and you decide when to open and close, regardless of what is on the licence.
Councils typically approve core hours from 9 am to 11 pm. For restaurants, it's standard practice to stop alcohol service about 30 minutes before closing to let customers finish their drinks comfortably.
Being too conservative with your hours might restrict your business later on, so plan for future needs.
Serving Food Late
Serving food after 11 pm? You’ll need a licence for late night refreshments, which is legally required for any hot food or drink served between 11 pm and 5 am. However, if your kitchen closes by 11 pm or you only serve cold food/snacks, you do not need to include it in your application. Many applicants mistakenly apply for this even when it’s unnecessary.
Example 01
Restaurant serving food: Mon-Sun 09:00-00:00
✅ Application for late night refreshment for: Mon-Sun 23:00-00:00
Example 02
Restaurant serving food: Mon-Sun 09:00-22:00
❌ No application for late night refreshment, as hot food services ends at 22:00
This is a common area where businesses can avoid unnecessary licensing paperwork and fees. Hounslow Council has a great guide on late-night refreshment requirements.
Playing Music
You might be surprised to learn you don't always need explicit permission to play music. Music between 9 am and 11 pm is deregulated for most venues, meaning you can play it without any additional permission from the council as long as you stay within those hours.
You only need council approval if music continues after 11 pm or if your venue is intended to host more than 500 people. This deregulation means you do not need to include recorded or live music as a licensable activity.
Example 01
Cafe with background music: Mon-Sun 10:00-15:00
❌ No application for recorded music, as music stops before 23:00
Example 02
Bar with live music: Mon-Sun 09:00-01:00
✅ Application for recorded music for: Mon-Sun 23:00-01:00
Outside Area
If you intend to serve alcohol outside your main premises - such as in a beer garden or on pavement seating—you must include both on-premises and off-premises supply in your application. This detail is frequently missed and can result in an application to vary the existing licence.
Councils interpret "premises" to mean the exact space defined in your plan, so anything outside it must be accounted for.
If you plan to expand your seating in the future, include those areas in your application now. It's easier to plan ahead than to amend your licence later. As per the latest Home Office guidance from February 2025, it is not necessary to include the outside area on the premises plan you submit with the application, unless there is an outside bar/service counter.
Table of Contents
Supply of Alcohol Hours
Serving Food Late
Playing Music
Outside Area
