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Getting permission for a marquee

Can customers take their drinks outside the marquee?

Q:  I issued and obtained a temporary event notice for a Marquee in my Beer Garden this Summer as there is a village event that weekend and I want to maximise my trade.  There will be lots of people coming to the village that day.  When I spoke to the local Police Licensing Officer about the event he mentioned in passing that customers in the marquee were not permitted to take alcohol outside the marquee.  I assumed they could take their drinks anywhere they liked.  Did I get something wrong with the TEN? 

A:  If the Police Officer is correct, I suspect when you completed the “Sale of Alcohol” box you ticked on-sales only, as opposed to both on and off-sales. 

If you identified the marquee alone (and not the whole pub) as the subject of the TEN, then the law treats the marquee as the premises, and if you have only obtained authorisation for on-sales in the marquee then clearly your customers cannot consume alcohol purchased in the marquee outside it.  It is irrelevant what permissions your premises licence allows (on or off-sales) as the TEN authorisation is what is required in respect of the marquee.  If you have time I suggest re-submitting a TEN applying for both on and off-sales (and remember you can apply for a late TEN between 9 and 5 working days before the event).

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