Temporary Event Notice

Serve a Temporary Event Notice

Summary

A temporary event notice (TEN) is required if licensable activities are to be carried but are not already permitted under a premises licence or club premises certificate.

You must be 18 years or older to serve a TEN and you can serve a maximum of five TENs per year unless you are already a personal licence holder, in which case you can serve a maximum of 50 TENs per year.

Your event must involve no more than 499 people at any one time and last no more than 168 hours with a minimum of 24 hours between events.

TENs increased for 2022 and 2023 

The Alcohol Licensing (Coronavirus) (Regulatory Easements) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 have now been approved by Parliament and are in force.

The Regulations have amended the limits prescribed by the Licensing Act 2003 to increase the allowance for temporary event notices from 15 to 20 and increase the maximum number of days on which temporary events may be held from 21 to 26. This increase only applies in the years 2022 and 2023.

Read Alcohol Licensing (Coronavirus) (Regulatory Easements) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

How to apply

You must apply and pay online.

A TEN is not an application to the licensing authority but a ‘notice’ of an intended event which must be served on the Council no later than ten working days before the event. If the premises where the event is to be held is in areas governed by two or more local authorities applications must be made to each.

When you submit your application online the Licensing Authority will forward a copy of your TEN to the police Licensing Team and Environmental Health Noise and Nuisance Team on your behalf.

A fee of £21 is payable with the notice.

The applicant must also give notice to the Chief Officer of Police, Licensing, Twickenham Police Station, 41 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3SY no later than ten working days before the event period. For an online served TEN the licensing authority will give a copy of the notice to the police.

The chief police officer who receives a notice and believes that the event would undermine crime prevention objectives can serve an objection notice on the licensing authority and the premises user. The licensing authority must hold a hearing if an objection notice is served and may issue a counter notice if it considers it necessary for the promotion of crime prevention objective. A decision must be made at least 24 hours before the beginning of the event.

Where an objection notice has been served the Chief of Police may modify the TEN with the consent of the premises user. In such a case an objection notice will be deemed to have been withdrawn.

A Counter Notice may be served on the premises user by the licensing authority if at the hearing the sub committee uphold the objection notice. A Counter notice may also be served by the licensing authority if the number of permitted TENs has been exceeded.

Late notices

Late notices can only be served between 5 and 9 working days before the event. A late notice served less than 5 working days before the event to which it relates will be rejected as not a valid notice and the activities described in it will not be authorised.

The number of late notices that can be given in any one calendar year is limited to 10 for personal licence holders and 2 for non-personal licence holders. These count towards the total number of temporary event notices

Will tacit consent apply?

Yes but if relevant representations are received tacit consent does not apply and a public hearing must be held to determine your application.

Appeals

Please contact the Licensing Team in the first instance licensing@merton.gov.uk 

If a counter notice is served in relation to an objection notice the applicant may appeal against the decision to the local Magistrates' court within 21 days. An appeal may not be brought later than five working days from the day of the planned event.