The case of the absent premises licence holder and the summary review

Paddy Whur discusses recent summary review hearings that he has been involved in, where the premises licence holder has been the landlord. He looks at issues faced by both the police and the premises licence holder.

In the last month I have been involved in five summary review hearings. Three of these were for operators and two were for the Humberside Police.

An interesting issue developed in all of these expedited reviews, in that, the premises licence was held in the property landlord’s name. The landlord having nothing to do with the operation of the premises. In effect the leaseholder of the premises was running the premises and was the Designated Premises Supervisor, as well as, the on site management, in each of the cases.

This has caused me to look closely at the issue of where the premises licence holder in real terms has nothing to do with the day to day management of the premises and how this can impact into the process when the licence is subject to a review or expedited review.

If you are acting for, or are a Police force, undertaking these proceedings, it is going to be critically important that the issues that are arising with regard to the management of the premises are addressed with the premises licence holder as well as the onsite management.

What you don’t want to happen is to get to the final review hearing and for the premises licence holder to say – “well we didn’t know anything about these issues. The Police have never told us”. In this scenario there could be a back door for the premises licence holder on the basis that they will be able to change the DPS/onsite management team and the problems will be resolved.

Clearly, we are all striving to promote the licensing objectives, whether we are the premises licence holder, police or local authority. We all want positively run venues which promote the licensing objectives and create a safe environment where people can enjoy themselves. If this could be achieved then all well and good. In many cases of this nature though, we will be dealing with problem premises which have a negative impact.

It is important if you are involved in these cases from a policing perspective to ensure that the premises licence holder, as well as, the onsite management team are invited to any meetings to detail the problems perceived with the management of the premises. This is equally important from the perspective of the absent premises licence holder (particularly if this is the landlord of the premises and if the premises are in a cumulative impact policy area).

As a premises licence holder, it would be disastrous if the first that you hear about problems with your venue is when the review is served. Clearly, the premises licence holds a value to the landlord – otherwise he wouldn’t be retaining it in his name. It could have a negative financial effect if the licence were lost at a review/summary expedited review and the landlord would have to apply again for a new premises licence with a new operator.

This is exacerbated if the premises are in a cumulative impact policy area, where they would have to rebut the presumption of refusal with the new grant of a premises licence should it be lost at review.

These are important issues that need to be considered from both sides of the proceedings. Of course there is nothing unlawful in the premises licence being held by the non operational landlord but this will not always remove criminal liability (please see the case of Hall and Woodhouse Limited v The Borough and County of the town of Poole [3 April 2009] EWHC 1587 (Admin)) and importantly doesn’t remove the ability for the licensing authority to take away the premises licence authorisation and, therefore, it is something that is constantly needing to be monitored.

From an operator and enforcement angle it will be important to assess who the premises licence holder is, does he have day to day control, are they promoting the licensing objectives and is the structure of the management of the business part of the problem. 

Paddy Whur is a partner at Woods Whur. He can be contacted on 0113 234 3055 or by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Colin Manchester's book Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Law 3rd Edition is published by Woods Whur. To read reviews of the book and order a copy, click here.