Don't be misled: apply for all variations now

An interesting situation has arisen as a result of the last-minute rush to beat the 6 August deadline.

More than one authority is suggesting that life will be 'easier for applicants if they merely go for grandfather rights and leave additional time alone. After all, there can then be little likelihood of objection and the application will be rushed through fairly speedily. Then comes the crunch: 'You can always apply for a variation later.

Ah yes. But when? And how much will it cost? This is one of the key elements of the new system. If you want to change the way you operate, you will have to pay and pay handsomely.

To make a variation to your licence used to cost between £16 and £30. Under the new system, a variation of a premises licence for most pubs will cost between £190 and £635, plus the cost of advertising, which will range between £120 and £480, plus the cost of sending duplicate applications to up to nine different 'responsible authorities, plus the prospect of objections, which you cannot estimate.

Variation during transition costs between £60 and £120 (plus the cost of advertising etc.) and costs clubs absolutely no fee (but they have to advertise). So it makes sense to do it now and try to get it right first time.

There is another problem which has recently come to light. Due to the way in which the commencement orders for the new act have been framed, it will not be possible to apply for a variation of a licence between 6 August and 24 November.

You can apply for a brand new premises licence alright. Those who are caught by the new law for the first time will need to anyway. But you cannot vary a licence which has been granted by way of grandfather rights until the second appointed day.

At least, that is the current situation. No new commencement orders have been issued since September last year, when it was decreed that only the variation provisions relevant to schedule 8 (the transition arrangements) would be in effect. The general variation provisions are not yet in place, so if you have a brand new premises licence and you want to change it because circumstances or the designated premises supervisor (DPS) have changed, you are going to have to hang on until 24 November to do it.

This could be annoying if for some reason your nominated DPS has moved on, or has been found committing some misdemeanour for which you have had to sack him. You are then left with no DPS and a rush on the SAD (second appointed day isn't it poignant?) to get a deemed appointment made.

I am sure that the DCMS is aware of this and will move with its usual speed to bring in one or two extra commencement orders in due course. But it might be better if local authorities did not make suggestions of this kind to applicants for premises licences, which could leave them in a sort of no-man's-land with regard to their new licences.

I think it is much the best plan to apply for variations which you might need at the beginning of the exercise, and let local licensing authorities wrestle with the logistics of meeting the deadlines, or not, as the case may be. Westminster Council, I notice yet again, is in the forefront of this basic application idea, I am sure for the best of motives, yet possibly also to be able to 'fast-track licence applications, of which it is still woefully short.

There is no doubt that the next couple of weeks will provide an interesting variety show for everyone.