Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030 consultation
Bristol City Council is reviewing its pdf Statement of Licensing Policy(520 KB) which sets out the council’s policy for licensing and regulating businesses where there is the sale of alcohol, provision of regulated entertainment or late night refreshment. This normally covers businesses such as pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels, off licenses and late night food takeaways.
The Licensing Act 2003 (the "Licensing Act") sets out four statutory objectives which must be addressed when licensing functions are undertaken. The licensing objectives are:
- the prevention of crime and disorder
- public safety
- the prevention of public nuisance
- the protection of children from harm
The Council in its role as the licensing authority must carry out its functions under the Licensing Act with a view to promoting these objectives.
Why are we consulting?
We have updated our pdf Statement of Licensing Policy for 2025-2030(519 KB) . This draft policy is now subject to consultation. It includes the following proposed changes:
- updated statistics on visitors to Bristol city centre and the Bristol Harbour Festival (paragraph 1.12)
- reference to elected mayor removed and replaced with the council's Policy Committees (paragraphs 2.2 and 4.2.1)
- update to reference exemptions that applicants should be aware of (paragraph 2.5)
- reference to previous government removed (paragraph 3.1.4)
- update to statistics on alcohol use by secondary school students (paragraph 6.6.8)
- addition of paragraph in relation to delivery services (paragraph 8.1)
- reference to Night Time Safety (paragraph 9)
- reference to Martyn's Law (paragraph 10)
- updated section numbering (paragraph 11)
Full details of the proposed changes are available in this pdf list of amendments to the Statement of Licensing Policy(200 KB) .
Closed for feedback
Ended: 28 April 2025
What happens next
Your feedback to this consultation will be analysed and the feedback will help us develop the final Statement of Licensing Policy 2025 to 2030. The final decision about the policy will be taken by Full Council in July 2025.
The consultation was available as an online survey. Alternative versions of the survey were available on request, including a paper version, Easy Read, Braille, large print, British Sign Language or other languages.
Further information
What are licensable activities?
-
the sale by retail of alcohol
- the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to a member or to the order of a member
- provision of regulated entertainment
- provision of late night refreshment
What is the sale by retail of alcohol?
This refers to the sale of alcohol (over 0.5% abv) to any person. There are a number of exemptions including alcohol sold by wholesale and alcohol contained in liquer confectionery.
What is the supply of alcohol by a club?
This refers to the supply of alcohol (over 0.5%) from a club to a member of the club. There are certain criteria that clubs would need to meet to be eligible for this type of licence.
What is late night refreshment?
This refers to the supply of hot food and hot drink between 23:00 and 05:00, regardless of whether the consumption occurs in the premises, or for takeaway.
The are a number of exemptions, which include hot drink supplied by a vending machine, hot food and hot drink which is free of charge, and hot food and hot drink supplied by a registered charity.
What is regulated entertainment?
This refers to a range of different entertainment including live music, recorded music, plays and film.
There are a number of exemptions depending on whether the venue holds a licence, the time of day, and the number of people attending.
There is further information on all of the above activities and exemptions available in our pdf guidance to apply for a premises licence(342 KB) .
Key dates
- Start date: 3 February 2025
- End date: 28 April 2025