Under the regime that was introduced during 2005 personal Licenses are granted to individuals who operate licensed premises. These licences are granted for a 10-year period.
Premises Licenses, in contrast, need to be renewed annually. It is the responsibility of the licensee to see that this is done. It is therefore wise to make a diary note of the anniversary and to re-apply in good time, lest the authority forgets and you will then have to re-apply (and close your business down) in the meantime.
If you are a Personal Licence holder you have a duty to tell the Court that you are such, if you are accused of any relevant criminal offence. (There is a long list of "relevant" offences including violence, theft and dishonesty, breaches of Customs regulations, drug related offences, sexual offences and driving while under the influence of drugs or drink.)
The Court has the power to suspend your Personal Licence, but even if they do not exercise that power they will inform the Licensing Authority who can (and probably will) suspend it.
Losing your Personal Licence will be inconvenient at best although not necessarily catastrophic. However if you are also the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) for the licensed premises you have a serious problem as you cannot be a DPS without holding a Personal Licence. Without a DPS alcohol cannot be served on the premises!
If you are charged with any of the relevant offences you need to quickly organise things so that there is an alternative DPS in place immediately if your Personal Licence is suspended. This means having an alternate Personal Licence holder ready to take over responsibility and having the new application ready to go to the Licensing Authority.
Remember that anyone who considers themselves to be adversely affected by your licensed activities can apply for a review of your licence and its operating schedule. Whilst the Police and other statutory authorities are likely to contact you about any problems your neighbours may not do so. The first indication of any problems may be when you receive a notice of review from the licensing authority.
You need to try to be aware of any issues that may be raised by your neighbours or others and make some attempt to deal with these. Make sure that all your staff are aware that complaints must be treated as serious and referred to you as the licensee.
Please contact Gillian Jones for further information.