While the British weather is notoriously unpredictable, you can always bank on pockets of sunshine to entice people to your premises wanting a drink and some food, fresh air and much needed vitamin D.
And with the announcement of measures such as the Mayor of London’s £300,000 fund to boost al fresco dining and late-night openings, what should you consider if you want to add the outdoors for to your offering.
- Whether you want to use an area you own or the pavement for your outdoor area, you should check your licence to make sure you have off-sales. The off-sales easement granted to existing licences during the covid-19 pandemic has now ceased. If you want to sell alcohol for your customers to consume away from your normal licensed area, you will need to check you have this. If you do not, many authorities are prepared to treat applications to add off-sales to your licence as a minor variation.
- If you are planning to use your own outdoor area, it is always useful to check your licence and any planning permission to see if there are any restrictions on its use. You might see restrictions including those relating to operating hours, nature of use of the outdoor area or restrictions on the use of glassware.
- If you do not have your own outdoor area and you want to apply for a pavement licence to use the adjoining highway area, you should always check the local policy to see what you might be able to achieve. Different authorities have different approaches in terms of hours of operations and the size of the pavement licence area you could be permitted. The pavement is for everyone, and councils take differing views on how much of the pavement should remain for pedestrians. If the pavement is particularly narrow, you might not get much or indeed anything granted to you. If the pavement is wide, you could find yourself with a generous outdoor area.
- Different authorities have different attitudes towards what is necessary to make an application and getting advice can make the difference between getting what you want and not. All councils will require a plan showing the proposed area, and whilst this might not necessarily need to be a professionally drawn plan, the clearer and more detailed it is, the better. Some councils insist on scaled plans and photos of the proposed furniture to make sure it is in keeping with their standards whilst others will not.
- You will need to demonstrate that you have public liability insurance that covers you for the use of the outside area. Most councils will accept your insurance certificate but others might need confirmation from the insurance company that the particular area is covered.
- Remember, you will have to remove the furniture at the end of the day so have regard to where you are going to keep it when the licence hours are over. Its all good and well having a 50-cover pavement licence but only a small premises to store your tables and chairs.
- The pavement licence application process takes up to 4 weeks from start to finish so make sure you get those applications submitted in good time to take advantage of any nicer weather.
Joe Harvey is an associate solicitor at Poppleston Allen
