Government issues consultation on how to make it easier to sell alcohol to drink in licensed pavement areas

As readers will know, the Business and Planning Act 2020 introduced regulatory easements to support the trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alcohol licensing easements enabled on-sales only licence holders to automatically provide off-sales without any need to amend their licence. This meant that when pubs and restaurants were initially closed because of the pandemic, these businesses were able to sell alcohol for take-away and/or delivery.

The 2020 Act also streamlined the process for obtaining a pavement licence and capped the fees. Together, the 2020 Act easements relating to alcohol and pavement licensing meant that businesses with an on-sales only premises licence could automatically sell alcohol for consumption in a licensed pavement area.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 recently made permanent the provisions set out in the 2020 Act relating to pavement licensing, but the future of the off-sales element has not yet been decided and the easement is due to lapse in March 2025. This will mean that those businesses with on-sales only licences that have made use of the easement and wish to continue to provide off-sales would require a licence variation. The process for obtaining a variation to a licence can be costly and time consuming.

The Government proposes 3 possible options:

1. Option 1: Make current arrangements – as set out in the Business and Planning Act 2020 – permanent. This would mean that on-sales only licence holders would automatically be able to continue to provide off-sales without the need for a licence variation. If this option is taken forward, it would likely be by means of a Legislative Reform Order (LRO) under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006.
2. Option 2: Amend the Licensing Act to extend the definition of on-sales so that it includes consumption in a licensed 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. If this option is taken forward, it would also be introduced by means of an LRO.
3. Option 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. As with option 2, 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. If this option is taken forward, it would be introduced by means of an LRO.

It is worth noting that Option 1 would allow takeaways and deliveries to continue without additional permissions whereas Options 2 and 3 would not – a separate application to vary the licence would be required.

The consultation, which applies in England and Wales and closes on 11^th July can be found here