What to do if you have a complaint about a licensed premises or club
Complaints
All of our licensed premises and clubs have mandatory conditions which they have to comply with.
Most also have conditions that relate to them specifically. These can include:
- how they work to avoid public nuisance
- whether they need to have security staff
- or even sounds levels for music (if these have been put onto the licence by our Community Safety and Neighbourhood Nuisance Team)
If you have a complaint against one of our licensed premises, please email or write to us with the details. We will raise the issue with an enforcement officer to investigate.
Should you experience repeated issues with a premises, you do have the option of calling a review on the premises or club, details on this procedures are outlined below.
Our review procedure
If anyone has an ongoing complaint towards a licensed premises or club, we can conduct a review of the licence or certificate.
Who can apply for a review?
Reviews can be applied for by any of the responsible authorities (the police or fire safety authorities, or by what is called 'other persons').
These 'other persons' could be:
- an individual person - for example, someone that lives nearby and is affected by the premises licence being in place (for example, by noise disturbance)
- a body representing persons - for example, a group of residents being affected who have consulted with a parish council to make the review
- a person involved in a business - for example, a shop that opens in the day which is next door to a kebab shop that causes littering issues
- a body representing persons involved in such businesses - for example, a business association that represents a group of shops that is affected by a licensed premises
The reason for review must be connected to one of the licensing objectives. These are:
- the prevention of crime and disorder
- public safety
- the prevention of public nuisance
- the protection of children from harm
How to make an application for review
Any application to have a premises licence or a certificate reviewed must clearly show how the operation of the premises has not promoted, or worked against, one or more of the Licensing Objectives.
Applications must be made by completing an application form and sending copies to the authorities on the front of the application, and to the premises to which it relates. We advise that you read our guidance notes to help make sure the reasons for the review are relevant. The form and guidance notes are at the bottom of this page.
What happens next?
- once an application for a review has been received and accepted by us, we have to place a notice (of A4 size or larger) on, at, or near the premises in question
- a copy of the advertisement will also be available at our King's Lynn office, on this page, or online on our Public Register
- local residents and responsible authorities may also make representations relating to the premises, subject to review within 28 consecutive days of the original application being made
- following a 28 consultation period the application for review will be put before the Licensing Sub-Committee, unless all parties involved reach agreement about the future operation of the premises - in this case the hearing would no longer be necessary
If a hearing is required
If a hearing is necessary the Licensing Sub-Committee may do one of the following:
- decide that no action is necessary to promote the licensing objectives
- modify or add conditions to the licence
- exclude a licensable activity from the licence
- remove the designated premises supervisor
- suspend the licence for a period (not exceeding three months)
- revoke the licence
Current review notices
There are currently no reviews in process at this time
Further Information
If you have any further queries, or require further information, please contact us. Our contact details are at the bottom of this page.