Temporary Events Notices TEN's Does your event need one?

TEN's or Temporary Events Notices are a pain in the neck for first time event organisers. This small article should help you to make a bit of headway in the vast sea of licencing that you may feel you are presented with by your local council, police, planning and fire department.

First of all let me state now that I am not a laywer or solicitior and my advice is based on years of practical experience in event licences both the old Public Entertainment Licences and the permission to sell alcohol as well as the new TEN's and premises licences. So don't take what I say as gospel. If you need to get proper legal advice then go to Popplestone Allen They are always very helpful and will often answer simple questions before you start getting into the chargeable section of their services.

So let me dismiss some myths that I constantly hear from clients when organising events.

1. You need a licence to give alcohol away for free. This is not true. If you are giving it away free you do not need a licence. However read on.

It depends how "free" the drink really is.

Without getting into legal arguments:-

If you have a free party and give the drinks away for free then no licence in required. Ie a Wedding, house party, birthday party or company party.

If you charged for tickets for the party then you would need a licence. The council would take the view that its is a profit making venture.

So if you are having a wedding or private party or even a public party and you decide to give away for free the drink over the bar then you do not need a licence. However you must be careful if you are charging for tickets. The act of selling a ticket for money and then giving away alchool could be seen by a keen council licencing office as you selling the drink within the ticket price. This is really only a problem for balls.

The key phrase in the licencing act is "retail sale" and this is what you must always consider. It does not always refer to the exchange of cash for a drink at a bar.

2. You do not need a TEN for a wedding unless you are either charging your guests for access to the wedding with the pre determined view of making a profit or charging for drink over the bar.

3. You do need a TEN for other licensable activities such as dancing, live music and catering within certain hours.

Do give us a call for friendly and quick advice!