Temporary off Sales Permissions

The Business and Planning Act 2020 has temporarily modified the Licensing Act 2003 to provide an automatic extension to the terms of most premises licences which currently only permit the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises to allow the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises. The provisions have been extended and are now temporary until 30 September 2023.

The aim of the act is to make it easier for licensed premises to sell alcohol to customers for consumption off the premises allowing businesses to trade and maintain social distancing. The new off-sales permission will permit off-sales to be made at a time when the licensed premises are open for the purposes of selling alcohol for consumption on the premises. This is subject to a cut off time of 11pm or the closure time of an existing outside area, whichever is earlier. Measures also temporarily suspend existing licence conditions in so far as they are inconsistent with the new off-sales permission. The permission is only given to businesses with premises licences, so those organisations with club premises certificates are not covered by the provisions in the Act. Where organisations with club premises certificates that do not permit off-sales, those organisations will need to utilize temporary event notices (TEN's) or apply to vary their club premises certificate to add off sales.

Please note that the provisions in the Act do not override or suspend public space protection orders (PSPOs) that ban the consumption of alcohol in public.

In addition, a premises licence that only permits on-sales will be excluded if, within the three years preceding on 22 July 2020:
• a premises licence application was made for a licensed premises and permission for off-sales was refused;
• a licence variation seeking permission for off-sales was refused;
• a licence variation seeking to exclude the off-sales permission was accepted; or
• the premises licence was varied or modified on review to exclude off-sales.

If you intend to utilise the temporary off sales provisions please notify licensing@stratford-dc.gov.uk detailing your intentions, together with your section 172F(2) Statement. Additionally if you are in any doubt whether the new permission applies to your premises you should also contact licensing to check.


Click here for further guidance on the Temporary Off sales extension.

Contact: The Licensing team

Last updated on 26/09/2022