Licence applications start to trickle in

Applications for licences under the new licensing regime are beginning to trickle into councils across England and Wales. Following a flurry of media attention sparked by The Publican's story published earlier this month, many councils are now receiving their first personal and premises forms from licensees.

Earlier this week Birmingham City Council said it had received its first applications, while Portsmouth had had three applications for premises licences and six for personal licences.

Nickii Humphreys, licensing officer for Portsmouth,said: "Although we have now received nine applications, we have lost two out of the six months period to process the applications. We anticipate a large number of applications in June and July but we are geared up for this and have planned for the worst case scenario."

However, Ian Hannant, licensing officer at Liverpool City Council, said it had still not received any application forms from licensees in the city. "If the situation continues we will be writing to pubs again at the end of this month reminding them that they only have until August 6 to apply. If they don't do so, they may not be able to open on the Second Appointed Day in November."

Related articles:​

Pubs told: apply for licences or miss out (3 March 2005)