Draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2017-2022

Shadow licences

4.50 A shadow licence is a term used to describe a second or subsequent licence for premises where a licence already exists. A “shadow licence” may therefore replicate the authorised licensable activities, hours and conditions of an existing licence or it may differ in all respects

4.51 The effect of holding a “shadow licence” could be that in the event of an existing licence being revoked, suspended, surrendered or lapsing, the holder of a “shadow licence” can use that “shadow licence” immediately to allow the holder to continue operating at the premises. The holder of the “shadow licence” could be the freeholder of the premises, the existing premises licence holder or any other person

4.52 The existence of a shadow licence may lead to confusion as to which licence is being used at the premises at any given time. We would therefore, expect applicants for shadow licences to consider the following non-exhaustive list of conditions and to include them in the operating schedule:

• The premises licence holder will not trade from or operate the premises under this premises licence, for a period of three months after the revocation of premises licence number: [insert licence number] which exists for the same premises
• The premises licence holder shall hold a notification of interest in respect of premises licence [insert licence number] under section 178 of the Licensing Act 2003
• The premises licence holder will hold quarterly meetings with the holder of premises licence number [insert number] to discuss any issues arising or relating to the premises and the operation of premises licence number [insert number]
• The shadow licence will not authorise licensable activities while premises licence [insert number] has effect.

4.53 We have set out our approach to review applications in respect of shadow licences, in Chapter Nine.

Camden Statement of Licensing Policy 2017-2022 Page 34 of 102

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Draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2017-2022

Chapter Nine

The responsibilities of licence holders and reviews

This chapter outlines our approach to reviews of premises licences and club premises certificates

Responsibilities of licence holders

Shadow licences

9.9 The Council is concerned that the existence of a shadow licence may undermine the sanctions available to us in response to an application to review a premises licence when a shadow licence exists for the same premises.

9.10 In circumstances where we receive an application to review a licence at premises where a shadow licence exists, we will consider whether it is appropriate to the promotion of the licensing objectives, to make an application to review the shadow licence at the same time.

9.11 Where the applicant for the review is a responsible authority or any other person, we may ask the applicant to consider whether it may be appropriate to the promotion of the licensing objectives, to make an application to review the shadow licence at the same time.