Apply for a personal alcohol licence

You or a member of your staff must hold a personal licence if you sell alcohol from licensed premises, so that every sale or supply of alcohol is authorised by a personal licence holder.

'Licensed premises' include any premises allowed to sell alcohol under a premises licence. You don't need a personal licence to sell alcohol under a temporary events notice.

Restrictions

You must be 18 or over to apply for a personal licence.

You must also:

• have the right to work in the UK
• hold a personal licence qualification
• notify us of any relevant or foreign convictions
• not have forfeited a personal licence in the previous 5 years
• only apply to the Local Authority area in which your home address is located

Personal licence qualification

Before applying for a new personal licence, you need a recognised licensing qualification, such as the Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH) Level 2. This ensures that licence holders are aware of licensing law and social responsibilities attached to the sale of alcohol.

If you do not have a qualification already we have a list of accredited personal licence qualification providers.

DBS Basic Disclosure

You need to complete a DBS Basic Disclosure form from GOV.UK.  We must receive this within one calendar month of receiving your application.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

When applying for a personal licence you must complete the convictions disclosure form (Word doc, 52 KB).

If you are convicted of a relevant or foreign offence while applying for or holding a personal licence, you must notify us. Failure to do so is an offence.  

If you have been convicted of a relevant offence, you have a responsibility to tell us so that we can endorse the paper part of your personal licence. Only the court has the ability to revoke your licence and so if they haven't asked for your licence at the court hearing, you should contact our Licensing team as soon as possible. 
 

How to apply

You can apply by downloading our application form.

Personal alcohol licence application form (Word doc, 101 KB)

Before you start

Read our guidance on how to apply for a personal licence.

Pay

There's a £37.00 fee.

Contact our customer services team to pay for your personal alcohol licence. You will need to ask for a receipt to include with your licence application.

Telephone: 01799 510510

You can also get in touch with us using alternative methods via our contact us page.

Other information to provide

You will need to provide other information, including:

1. Two passport style photographs (at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall) and at least 50KB and no more than 7MB. One of the photographs must be endorsed as a true likeness by a solicitor or notary, a person of standing in the community or any individual with a professional qualification
2. The original, basic DBS certificate
3. Your disclosure of criminal convictions
4. A PDF copy of your qualification
    

Find out more about personal licenses

The application process

Your application will take between 1 and 2 weeks to process.

The criminal conviction certificate must be sent to the licensing authority within 28 days of the certificate date.

Should you have any unspent convictions that are relevant to the four licensing objectives, then your application will be forwarded to the Police Licensing Officer for them to decide if they want to object to your application. 

If they wish to object, the a hearing will take place before the Licensing and Environmental Health Committee who will then make the decision as to whether or not the licence will be granted.

Change your name or address

If you need to change the name or address on your personal licence you will need to complete a  form. If you change your name, you should include proof, such as a marriage certificate.

There is a £10.50 administration charge for this.

Renew a licence

You no longer need to renew a personal licence. Instead personal licences will carry on indefinitely until such time as they are either surrendered or revoked.

You can still use your existing personal licence, even though it appears to have expired.

Your personal licence and identity badge can be updated to amend the expiry date by writing to our Licensing team.

There is a £10.50 administration charge for this. You are also welcome to submit a new photograph at the same time.

Lost or stolen licences

If you have lost or had your personal licence stolen, you can contact our Licensing team to request a replacement. 

There is £10.50 administration charge for this. We cannot take payment until we have received your request in writing.

Licensing Act 2003 Policy

You are strongly advised to read our Statement of Licensing Policy 2022-2027 (PDF, 872 KB) .