Consultation: Alcohol in Licensed Pavement Areas

The Government has today issued a consultation about alcohol in licensed pavement areas for premises within England in Wales.

In brief, the pandemic led to the Government creating on off sales easement granting off sales for many premises in certain situations, which easement will be ending 31 March 2025. This means that certain on-sales only businesses that use the easement would need to vary their premises licence in the future to maintain the current position.

The consultation proposals comprise three options:

1. Make permanent the temporary regulatory easements for off-sales under the Business and Planning Act 2020, whereby any on-sales alcohol premise licence automatically covers off-sales as well;
2. Amend the Licensing Act 2003 to extend the definition of on-sales so that it includes consumption in a licenced pavement area; or
3. Amend the Licensing Act 2003 to permit on-sales only premises licence holders the right to make off-sales to any area for which there is a pavement licence.

The consultation can be found be following this link

The consultation will close on 11 July 2024 and comments should be submitted online through the GOV.UK website. A Government response to the consultation exercise will be published in due course.