DCMS Entertainment Licensing Statistics in the year to 31 March 2016

DCMS have just released the entertainment licensing statistics for England and Wales in the year to 31 March 2016. They can be found here 'Entertainment Licensing 2016: Statistical Release - November 2016' and also include statistics by region.

The figures provided consist of a combination of actual returns and modelled estimates for non-respondents.

In brief, the key findings and point of note include:

• There were 118,000 premises licences authorising regulated entertainment in force in England and Wales on 31 March 2016, a 1.4 per cent decrease compared to 119,700 licences on 31 March 2014.

• Premises licences accounted for 91.5 per cent of the total number of licences in force which authorised regulated entertainment on 31st March 2016. Club premises certificates accounted for the other 8.5 per cent.

• The largest increase in premises licences between March 2014 and March 2016 was for those covering boxing or wrestling (24.7%, increase of 1,300 licences). Only plays (0.2%) and films (0.4%) saw increases otherwise.

• The South West saw the largest percentage increase in premises licences (6.3%) between 2014 and 2016. As in 2014, Wales had the largest number of both premises licences and club premise certificates per person.