Is your premises licence working as hard as your hospitality or leisure business?

Gill Sherratt, Consultant & Head of Licensing

Kuits has launched Licence to Trade, a dedicated programme delivering commercially focused licensing guidance for ambitious hospitality and leisure businesses as they open, operate, entertain and grow.

For licensed businesses, a premises licence is more than a legal document. It sets the parameters within which a venue can trade: when it can open, whether it can serve alcohol, the entertainment it can provide, how it can use outdoor space and the conditions it must meet day to day. Get those permissions right and they can support commercial plans. Get them wrong, or allow them to fall behind the way the business now operates, and they can limit opportunity and create unnecessary risk.

Licensed businesses rarely stand still. A restaurant may add a bar, a hotel may expand its events programme, a venue may introduce live music or outdoor trading, and a successful operator may move into new sites. Yet the premises licence is not always reviewed at the same time.

Licence to Trade has been created to help operators close that gap. The programme will focus on the questions that matter commercially: Can we trade until the time we need to? Can we host the events our customers want? Does our licence cover an outdoor area? What happens if we change the concept, transfer ownership or expand into another location? Are our conditions proportionate, practical and properly understood?

Over the coming year, Licence to Trade will follow the full journey of a licensed hospitality or leisure business. Guidance will cover opening a new venue, entertainment and event licensing, seasonal and outdoor trading, premises licence variations and transfers, licensed-business transactions, compliance, staff training, objections, licence reviews and enforcement.

The programme also recognises that licensing decisions rarely sit in isolation. Opening, acquiring, developing or changing a hospitality business may involve property, employment, commercial agreements, corporate transactions, data protection, intellectual property, regulatory issues and dispute resolution. Kuits brings those disciplines together around the needs of the operator.

With deep roots in Manchester and the North West, Kuits understands the pace, ambition and pressures of the region’s hospitality and leisure economy. Licence to Trade will share timely guidance, highlight emerging issues and help businesses prepare for the moments that matter.

Start with a 30-minute licensing health check

As part of the launch, Kuits is offering hospitality and leisure businesses a 30-minute licensing health check. The conversation will consider whether the current licence reflects how the business actually trades, including its hours, entertainment, outdoor areas, management arrangements and future plans.

If your hospitality or leisure business has changed, or is about to, book a 30-minute premises licence health check to make sure your permissions are ready for what comes next.