LIGHTS ON
get your venue ready

Your plain-English head start on a UK premises licence.

A free starter guide to getting your premises licence right the first time: what the council is really looking for, and how to sidestep the mistakes that sink first-timers.

Free · instant download · no catch
Why this exists

This guide exists because my own venue never opened. Everything was ready, the licence, the fit-out, the staff, the launch. Opening night was Good Friday 2020, and the country locked down that week. The doors never opened.

So I took the entire body of work I'd built to get a real UK late-night venue licensed and ready, and turned it into something you can use for yours. This free guide is where it starts, a straight, honest map of what's ahead, with no jargon and no consultant's day rate.

What's inside

Everything you need to get oriented.

Not the full application, the map. What a licence is, what's actually judged, and the traps to avoid before you spend a penny.

1

What a premises licence really is

When you need one, the licensable activities it covers, and the four licensing objectives your whole application is judged against.

2

The documents you'll need

The operating schedule, the premises plan, and the DPS with their personal licence, explained in plain English.

3

The process, step by step

Applying, the pale-blue notice, the newspaper advert, the responsible authorities and the 28-day consultation, in the right order.

4

The mistakes that sink first-timers

A woolly schedule, botched advertising, fire safety treated as a tick-box. Learn from other people's pain, not your own.

5

Fees, timescales and a checklist

What it costs, how long it takes, and a one-page checklist you can actually work from.

Who it's for

Built for the first-timer with big plans.

Free Guide
Free
a free download, no card needed
  • The four licensing objectives, decoded
  • The documents and the step-by-step process
  • The mistakes that sink first-timers
  • Fees, timescales and a one-page checklist
  • Plain English, not legal advice, free forever
Get the free guide
Instant download · works for any UK late-night licensed venue
Go further

Ready to actually write the application?

The Licence Kit hands you the editable Operating Schedule master template, the Four Objectives Navigator with its Fire Safety module, all your registers and the staff policies your team work from. The £197 that saves the £5,000 solicitor.

See the Licence Kit · £197
Before you ask

Fair questions.

Is it really free?

Completely free. Enter your email and the guide is yours to download. No card, no catch.

Is this legal advice?

No. It's plain-English guidance built from a real UK licence application. It gets you genuinely oriented, then you check your own council's specific conditions before you apply.

Will it work for my type of venue?

Yes. It's written for any late-night licensed premises in England and Wales, nightclubs, bars, pubs, hotels, members' clubs, anywhere the Licensing Act 2003 applies.

What if I want the actual documents?

That's the Licence Kit: the editable Operating Schedule, the objectives navigator, the policies and registers, ready to make your own. This free guide shows you the lay of the land first.