Club Premises Certificate

You need a club premises certificate (CPC) if you are a social, sporting or political member club, such as a working men's club or British Legion, known as a qualifying club, and you want to:

sell or supply alcohol to members or guests
provide regulated entertainment, like musical performances or film screenings to members or guests

These are known as licensable activities.

A members club must also meet specific conditions to be considered a qualifying club under the Licensing Act 2003.

On this page:

Qualifying clubs

CPCs are granted to members clubs who are able to prove, through the operation of the club, that they are a qualifying club, under the Licensing Act 2003.

As a club you must have a rule book, elect a committee, and be run for the benefit of your members.

You can apply for a CPC if:

the club has premises that are occupied and used regularly for club purposes
the club has at least 25 members
alcohol and entertainment is only provided to members and their guests
only someone 18 or older, who is nominated by the club and an elected member, can serve alcohol or buy it for the club
there is no arrangement for anyone to benefit financially from buying or selling alcohol
new members wait two days from their application (or nomination) before getting membership privileges
club rules state that those becoming member without nomination or application cannot have membership privileges for at least two days between them becoming members and being admitted to the club
the club is established and conducted in good faith (the way the club is financed determines this)

This list is not exhaustive

A Premises Licence will be required if the club does not meet the requirements of a qualifying club.

In addition, members of the public who are not club members or guests of a member are not permitted to enter a club and be served alcohol, or take part in any licensable activities.

A Temporary Event Notice is required for events where the public can attend, such as open days.

Supplying alcohol additional requirements

To supply alcohol to members and sell to their guests, the following conditions must be met:

the purchase and supply of alcohol must be managed by a committee made up of elected members of the club all aged over 18 years
nobody should receive at the expense of the club a commission or percentage in regard to the purchase of alcohol by the club
nobody should receive a financial benefit from the supply of alcohol by the club to its members or guests
only members and guests that have been signed in by a member of the club are permitted to be supplied with alcohol

Attached to CPCs is a mandatory condition that requires all off-sales to be made in sealed containers and to a member of the club, not a guest.

A qualifying club does not need to have a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) and a Personal Licence does not need to be held by any member or employee either.

Before applying for a club premises certificate

The law on qualifying members clubs can be complex and appropriate independent legal advice is recommended prior to an application being made.

The application forms and process to apply or alter a CPC are defined by law.

You should be familiar with our policy before applying for any licence. You can download our current licensing policy below.

Licensing Act 2003 policy (PDF, 1 MB)

Incomplete or incorrect applications will be rejected. An application is not considered complete until a correctly completed application is served on us and the responsible authorities, the required documents have been supplied, and the fee paid.

How to apply for a new club premises certificate

There is a 28 day consultation period with the responsible authorities and the public for all new CPC applications and full variation applications.

Making an application

To apply for a CPC you will need to supply

a completed CPC application form (Word doc, 445 KB)
a plan of the premises
a completed CPC Declaration form (Word doc, 48 KB)
a copy of your club rules
the appropriate fee

Application form

You can apply for a new CPC on GOV.UK.

Apply online for a new CPC

Alternatively you can download and complete a CPC application form (Word doc, 445 KB) and email or post to us.

Plan

Plans can be any scale and don't need to be professionally drawn but must be legible.

The plan must clearly show

entrances and exits
the bar area
for off licensed premises, where alcohol is displayed
fire safety equipment (alarms, blankets, extinguishers)
a clear red line around the area intended to be licensed
boundary of the building
fire escapes
fixed structures
any raised areas (stages, platforms)
the location of toilet facilities
additional rooms, including the kitchen area of the building

CPC declaration form

You can download and complete a CPC Declaration form (Word doc, 48 KB) which needs to be included with your application. This helps us to confirm you meet the requirements of a qualifying club.

Club Rules

A copy of your club rules needs to be included with your application.

Fee

The fee to pay is based on the premises Non-Domestic Rateable Value. This is shown on your Business Rates bill or can be found on the GOV.UK website.

You can pay online via GOV.UK, by cheque if you are posting your application, or include your contact details with the application and a Licensing Officer will contact you to arrange payment by card over the phone.

What happens next

You are required to display a public notice and place a notice in a newspaper during the consultation period.

Responsible authorities

A copy of your application must also be served to the responsible authorities (PDF, 85 KB). We will do this on your behalf.

Public notice

On the day after your complete application was supplied to us you must display a notice. The notice must be

pale blue
A4 size
text written legibly in black or typed in black in a font of a size equal to or larger than 16
displayed for at least 28 consecutive days
displayed in a prominent position where it can be conveniently read from the outside of the club

You can use our suggested CPC public notice template (Word doc, 42 KB).

Newspaper notice

Within 10 working days, from the day after the complete application was supplied to us you must on at least one occasion publish a notice in a local newspaper which is distributed in the area of the premises. Most commonly this will be the New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times but other local newspapers are acceptable.

You can use our suggested CPC newpaper notice template (Word doc, 20 KB).

Fee

You can download a full list of Licensing Act fees.

Licensing act 2003 fees (PDF, 120 KB)

Annual fee

An annual fee is due each year from the first anniversary of the CPC being issued.

We will send a reminder letter to you before your annual fee due date, detailing how to make payment.

You can pay your annual fee up to two months in advance. Failure to pay the annual fee on time will result in your certificate being suspended. You will not be able to provide any licensable activities whilst suspended.

If you would like to pay your annual licence annual fee online, use the form below. You will need to have your annual fee letter to hand.

Pay CPC annual fee

Objections and representations

Objections under the Licensing Act 2003 are referred to as representations.

Only certain persons can make a valid representation against the issue of a new or varied CPC during the consultation period. These include:

a responsible authority such as the Police
persons living locally to the premises
businesses local to the premises
bodies or persons representing one of the above

Representations must be made in writing to us by post or email and received before the end of the consultation period.

Representations cannot be anonymous and a full postal address must be provided.

Representation must be relevant to at least one of the four licensing objectives which are:

prevention of crime and disorder
public safety
prevention of public nuisance
protection of children from harm

We recommend that the following guidance notes and representation form is downloaded if you wish to submit an objection.

Representation form and guidance (Word doc, 70 KB)

Receiving your club premises certificate

Following a 28 day consultation period, providing there are no valid objections then the CPC can be issued.

If a valid objection is received, and all of the involved parties cannot agree a resolution, then a licensing sub-committee hearing will be held.

They can decide to:

grant the CPC
refuse the CPC
add additional conditions or restrictions to the CPC

Should a valid representation be received the applicant will be notified and the procedure explained.

Mandatory Conditions

All CPCs are subject to one or more Mandatory Conditions, depending on what activities the CPC authorises.

The Secretary of State may add to the mandatory conditions at any time.

The mandatory conditions are effective whether or not they physically appear on your certificate.

The mandatory conditions can be found in Appendix C of our Licensing Act 2003 policy (PDF, 1 MB).

Varying a club premises certificate

There are two types of application to vary a CPC depending on the changes required. You will either need to apply for a full variation or a minor variation.

Before applying please contact us by email at an early stage to determine if your proposed changes would require a full variation application or a minor variation application.

Full variation

A full variation follows the same procedure as applying for a new CPC but has its own application forms and notice templates. There is a 28 day consultation period.

You are required to display a notice on pale blue paper and put an article in a local newspaper.

Apply online for a full variation to a CPC on GOV.UK

Alternatively you can download and complete the CPC Variation application form (Word doc, 94 KB) and email or post to us.

You can use our suggested CPC Variation public notice template (Word doc, 42 KB).

You can use our suggested CPC Variation newspaper notice template (Word doc, 22 KB).

Minor variation

A minor variation (MV) can be applied for in certain circumstances only.

A minor variation has a simplified procedure. There is a 10 working day consultation period.

You are required to display a notice on white paper but don't need to put an article in a local newspaper.

You can apply for a minor variation online.

Apply online for a MV to a CPC on GOV.UK

Alternatively you can download and complete the CPC Variation application form (Word doc, 94 KB) and email or post to us.

You can use our suggested CPC MV public notice template (Word doc, 44 KB).

Public registers

We maintain public registers of existing premises licences and club premises certificates.

We also maintain a register of applications currently under consultation.

Contact details

Email: licensing@nfdc.gov.uk

Phone: 023 8028 5505

Licensing Services
New Forest District Council
Appletree Court
Beaulieu Road
Lyndhurst
SO43 7PA