Businesses that might need a licence
The types of businesses and organisations that need a licence for entertainment might include:
- nightclubs
- live music venues
- cinemas
- larger theatres
- larger street and open air festivals
- larger indoor sporting arena
What you need a licence for
A licence may be required by anyone that:
- provides any entertainment between 11pm and 8am
- provides amplified live or recorded music to an audience of more than 500 people
- provides recorded music to an audience on premises not licensed for the sale or supply of alcohol
- puts on a performance of a play or a dance to an audience of more than 500 people, or an indoor sporting event to more than 1,000 spectators
- puts on boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts
- screens a film to an audience in public or in private, if those attending are charged for entry and the intention is to make a profit, including raising money for charity. Licensing of entertainment under the Licensing Act 2003 is entirely separate from copyright authorisation to show films in public.
One application for either a premises licence or club premises certificate can cover all types of regulated entertainment and the sale or supply of alcohol.
Exemptions
Music entertainment
A licence is not required to stage a performance of live music, or the playing of recorded music if:
- it takes place between 8am and 11pm; and
- it takes place at an alcohol on-licensed premises; and
- the audience is no more than 500 people
You also don’t need a licence:
- to put on unamplified live music at any place between the same hours; or
- to put on amplified live music at a workplace between the same hours and provided the audience is no more than 500 people.
There are exemptions from the need for a licence for music entertainment, in defined circumstances as set out in the guidance, including for:
- places of public worship, village halls, church halls and other similar buildings
- schools
- hospitals
- local authority premises
- incidental music - music that is incidental to other activities that aren’t classed as regulated entertainment
Film screening
There are exemptions from the need for a licence for film entertainment, in defined circumstances as set out in the guidance, including for:
- places of public worship, village halls, church halls and other similar buildings
- education
- incidental film – moving pictures that are incidental to other activities that aren’t classed as regulated entertainment
- television broadcasts
Play or dance performance
A licence is not required to stage a performance of a play or a performance of dance if:
- it takes place between 8am and 11pm; and
- the audience is no more than 500 people
Indoor sporting event
A licence is not required to stage an indoor sporting event if:
- it takes place between 8am and 11pm; and
- the number of spectators is not more than 1000 people