Temporary event notices

A Temporary Event Notice (TEN) is required if you plan to do any of the following licensable activities on an unlicensed premises:

• Sell alcohol
• Serve hot food or drink between the hours of 11pm and 5am
• Entertainment (indoor sporting events, music etc)
• Serve alcohol to members of a private club

You will also need to apply for a temporary event notice if a particular licensable activity is not included in the terms of your existing licence. For example, if you want to sell alcohol at premises only licensed for regulated entertainment or if you want to open later than your current licence allows.

If the premises where the event is to be held is in areas governed by two or more local authorities, applications must be made to each authority.

Your event must:

• have no more than 499 people on the premises at all times (including staff)
• last no more than seven days (168 hours)

There are two types of temporary event notice and the difference is in the number of days' notice you have to give and what happens if your notice receives an objection.

Standard TEN

For a standard TEN, you must give at least 10 working days' notice. This does not include the day the TEN is submitted or the day of the event, any weekends or bank holidays.

Late TEN

A late TEN is one which has been submitted with less than 10 working days before the event is due to take place. The latest you can apply for a late TEN is between five and nine working days before the event is due to take place.

You must be 18 years or older to apply for a late TEN and you can give a maximum of two late TENs per year. If you are a personal licence holder, you can give a maximum of 10 late TENs per year.

To apply for a TEN you will need to complete the online application form. There is a fee of £21.

CAUTION - if you are not experienced in the submission of licence applications, you may wish to consider contacting a licensing solicitor or licensing agent to carry out this work on your behalf. If applications are submitted incorrectly or are not of the required standard, they may be rejected and you will lose your fee.  Please note that the licensing authority are only able to provide basic guidance, which is published on our web pages.

Please ensure that you check your application and supporting documents before you submit it, as no refunds will be issued for incorrect submissions.

Limitations

A single premises can have up to 15 TENs per year, as long as the total length of all events isn't more than 21 days.

You can get:

• 5 TENs (2 of which can be late TENs) per year
• 50 TENs (10 of which can be late TENs) if you hold a personal licence

There must be at least a 24 hour gap between each different event with a TEN on the same premises.

The police and environmental health can object to a TEN if they feel the event will undermine any of the four licensing objectives:

• The prevention of crime and disorder
• Public safety
• The prevention of public nuisance
• The protection of children from harm

Any objection must be made within three working days of the responsible authorities receiving the application.

We may, at least 24 hours before the event is due to start, issue a counter notice if we consider the event would undermine the licensing objectives. The event would not in this case be authorised to proceed.

Counter notices may be issued by us if the number of permitted late TENs have been exceeded.

There are some exemptions where a TEN is not required for certain types of entertainment, as described under schedule 1 (part 2) of the Licensing Act 2003. They are:

• Films for the purpose of advertisement, information or education
• Film exhibitions in museums, art galleries and community premises
• Music incidental to certain other activities
• Use of television or radio receivers
• Religious services and places of worship
• Garden fetes
• Morris dancing
• Vehicles in motion
• Entertainment provided by healthcare providers
• Circuses

You may withdraw a TEN by giving us written notice at least 24 hours before the event is due to start.