Legal: Off sales and pavement licences update

Following the recent announcement that the pavement licence regime (initially introduced as one of the Covid-19 easements) is to be made a permanent fixture for the hospitality sector, the government is consulting on whether changes should be made to the Licensing Act 2003 to make it easier for businesses with a premises licence to sell alcohol for consumption in an adjacent licensed pavement area. 

Three possible options have been proposed:

1. Make current arrangements permanent. This would mean that on-sales only licence holders would automatically be able to continue to do off-sales without the need for a licence variation. 
2. Extend the definition of on-sales to include consumption in a licenced pavement area. This would mean that on-sales only licence holders would be able to automatically sell alcohol for consumption in an adjacent licensed pavement area without any need for a licence variation. 
3. Amend the Licensing Act to permit on-sales only premises licence holders the right to make off-sales to any area for which there is a pavement licence. 

A copy of the consultation, which remains open until the 11 July 2024, can be read on the gov.uk website.

Written by Ewen Macgregor, partner at national law firm TLT. 

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