Temporary event notices (TENs) allow an event organiser to notify us, the police and our environmental health service of small scale events that involve licensable activities which need to be authorised.
There are two types of TENs you can apply for online:
Standard TENs
The law states that you must serve your notice on us at least 10 clear working days before the event (not including the event day and the day the notice is served).
Late TENs
A Late TEN can be submitted between five and nine working days before the event (not including the event day and the day the notice is submitted).
Late TENs should only be used in exceptional circumstances as you run the very real risk that the event may not be able to take place if we receive an objection to the notice. If that happens then we have no alternative but to serve a counter notice on the notice giver. If that happens you will not be authorised to provide licensable activities at the event as the law doesn't allow for an appeal with a late TEN.
Please note:
- A working day is Monday to Friday inclusive, excluding any bank holiday.
- The working day the application is received and the day of the event are excluded from being clear working days.
- Objections can only be received from police and environmental health and not members of the public.
Licensable activity includes:
- selling alcohol
- serving alcohol to members of a private club
- providing entertainment, such as music, dancing or indoor sporting events
- serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am
There are certain types of entertainment that you don't need a licence for under the Licensing Act 2003. Visit Guide to entertainment.
Cost
Each TEN costs £21
Information
- The event must have less than 500 people at any one time and last no more than 168 hours (7 days)
- You must be at least 18 years old to apply
- A TEN is required for each event held on the same premises
- We'll send a copy of the application to the police and environmental health for their comments
- There must be a period of 24hrs between the end time of a TEN and the issue time of another TEN
If your event is for more than 499 people, will last longer than 7 days or doesn't meet certain other limits for temporary event notices, you may instead need to apply for a time-limited premises licence to authorise the licensable activities. In this instance we recommend you contact us by email at least 6 months before any event to discuss this further and start the application process.
When applying for your notice you should provide a clear description or plan of the area in which you propose to carry on licensable activities. This is important as any licensable activities conducted outside the area of the premises protected by the authority of this temporary event notice would be unlawful.
If you have an event management plan in place for your event it may be beneficial to upload a copy of it with your notice application.
Number of notices you can apply for
You'll need a separate TEN for each event you hold even if it's on the same premises.
You can serve up to five TENs a year (of which two may be late notices).
If you have a personal licence to sell alcohol, you can serve up to 50 TENs a year (of which 10 may be late notices).
A single premises can have up to 15 notices (increased to 20 notices per year in 2022 or 2023) applied for in one year, as long as:
- the total length of the events is not more than 21 days (increased to 26 days per year in 2022 or 2023). Please note: events that carry on after midnight will count as two days.
- the person serving the notice doesn't exceed the amount of TENs they can serve in a year.
- there must be a minimum of 24 hours between each event notified by an event organiser at any premises.
- multiple TENS can be submitted at the same time but each event is a separate TEN with a separate fee payable. The limits set out above cannot be exceeded.
Where premises are available for hire by organisations or individuals for their own events, premises owners and operators must be aware that TENs submitted will be counted under the limits set down in the Act. It is therefore recommended that a booking agreement is used to make sure that all TENS made in respect of premises are made with the agreement of the premises owner or operator. This is particularly important for village halls and similar premises.