Westminster approves amendment Licensing Policy to introduce alcohol delivery policy changes

Following our eNews back in June, Westminster approved amendments to its Licensing Policy to introduce new policies around delivery of alcohol as well as Late Night Refreshment.

This was approved at a Full Council meeting last week and the amendments will take effect from 1 October 2021.

As a recap, the three new policies that will be introduced within the Licensing Policy include:

• Ancillary Delivery of Alcohol and/or Late-Night Refreshment Policy (DEL1) – Policy DEL1 will apply to venues such as restaurants and bars that want to offer deliveries in addition to their main activities. The presumption is to grant these applications subject to other policies.
• Shops Policy (SHP1) – Policy SHP1 will replace the existing Off sales of alcohol policy (OS1). The policy will apply to any premises whose primary function is the sale of goods or the offer of services. The policy is more comprehensive than OS1 as it covers all licensable activities that these premises may carry out. Examples of premises considered under this policy include traditional off licences, speciality stores, supermarkets, department stores, general stores, boutique, outlets, delicatessens, butchers, grocers, hairdressers, massage parlours, or anything of a similar nature where the primary use is purchase of goods by customers or to provide a service.
• Delivery Centre Policy (DC1)- Policy DC1 will apply to venues where the primary function is the sale of alcohol and food via a delivery service. Applications will generally be granted if they are not in predominantly residential areas and subject to other policies.

As a result of these changes amendments will be made to the existing licensing policy including core hours Policy (HRS1) to reflect the new premises uses, amending existing premises uses policies to refer to ancillary delivery and removal of the existing off sale policy (OS1).

Full details can be found on the Westminster’s website here.

Subject to the intended operation of the premises, these new policies will need to be considered, where relevant, when applying for a premises licence at sites within Westminster.