Q: I run a city centre bar and have applied for a number of temporary event notices throughout the summer to extend my hours of trade and advertise events such as live bands at my premises.
We are now not sure that we need all the temporary event notices that we have applied for. I wondered if we could cancel some of the events and related notices so I can hold events at other times in the year?
A. If you are considering cancelling some of your events you should definitely consider the temporary event notices (TENs) that you have applied for related to those events.
If the events covered by your TENs will definitely not be going ahead, then you should ensure that you withdraw those TENs.
I would suggest that you do this as soon as possible so that it does not get forgotten about, but in any case, you should withdraw the TEN by notifying the licensing authority no later than 24 hours before the start of the event period specified in the TEN.
Do this in writing to ensure you have a written record and if there are multiple TENs and you only wish to cancel some you should be clear and specify the dates of the ones you wish to withdraw.
I would also expect the licensing authority to acknowledge that you have withdrawn your TENs and if you do not receive any correspondence from them, it may be worth following this up so you have confirmation in writing.
I say this because the effect of withdrawing a TEN is that it is added back to your permitted allowance for the year.
Unfortunately, as it is likely the licensing authority will have processed your TEN already, it is unlikely that you will be able to obtain a refund of your fee of £21 per notice application, but the benefit here is retaining your TENs allowance for use later in the year.
As a reminder, the current TENs limitations state that the same premises cannot be used under a TEN on more than 15 occasions in a calendar year.
Although each TEN can last for a period of up 168 hours (seven days) no more than 21 days can be covered for the premises in question within a calendar year.
- Elizabeth Varley is a solicitor at Poppleston Allen.