Late Night Refreshment deregulation – remember, remember 5 November!

At the start of the month, in our article 'Guidance on the licensing of late night refreshment' we reported on the Guidance issued by the Government on the forthcoming deregulation of Late Night Refreshment.

As a reminder, the changes allow Licensing Authorities to exempt supplies of late night refreshment:

• on or from premises which are wholly situated in a designated area;
• on or from premises which are of a designated description (see below); or
• during a designated period (beginning no earlier than 23.00 and ending no later than 05.00).

By way of update, the Licensing Act 2003 (Late Night Refreshment) Regulations 2015 were laid before Parliament yesterday and will come into force on 5 November 2015.

The new Regulations set out the descriptions of premises that can be exempted. The main exemption of note is for licensed premises authorised to sell alcohol by retail for consumption on the premises between the hours of 23.00 and 05.00. However, other exempted premises will include:

• premises situated on land for the time being used for the provision of facilities to be used in connection with the use of a special road provided for the use of traffic of class I (with or without other classes) (motorway service area).
• premises used for the retailing of petrol or derv.
• premises in which a local authority has a relevant property interest or which are lawfully occupied by that authority, except—
• any domestic premises within those premises; or
• when an event is taking place at which more than 500 people are present.
• the premises of a school except—
• any domestic premises within the school; or
• when an event is taking place at which more than 500 people are present.
• premises used as a hospital, except any domestic premises within the hospital.
• community premises, except when an event is taking place at which more than 500 people are present.

It must be remembered that the new exemptions will only apply subject to the discretion of Licensing Authorities. However, there are of course numerous automatic exemptions already in place for late night refreshment under schedule 2 Licensing Act 2003 (e.g. hotel guests etc).

Should you have any queries about these matters, please contact us.