Last orders for Temporary Event Notices (TENs) for the festive period

With the festive period now in full swing, venue operators may wish to consider using Temporary Event Notices (TENs) if they don’t have a suitable licence, avoiding early last orders at your venue during the holiday season.

TENs can be used to carry out a licensable activity, such as the sale of alcohol, or providing entertainment such as live or recorded music on unlicensed premises. They can also be used by licensed premises if they wish to extend and trade beyond the hours permitted under their licence.

There are, however, certain timescales involved for lodging TENs, and with Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve only a matter of weeks away, it is best to get organised and lodge your TENs as soon as possible – our advice would be to not leave it until the last minute!

You must lodge a standard TEN with the local authority at least 10 clear working days before your event. You have 5 clear working days before the event to lodge a Late TEN.

2024 festive TEN deadlines

We’ve compiled the table below to highlight notable TENs deadlines during the Christmas period :

Are there any restrictions to TENs?

If applying for a TEN, be mindful that there are a few restrictions that apply. These include:

• Your event must have fewer than 500 people in attendance at all times (that includes any staff or anyone working the event).
• Your event mustn’t last longer than a week.
• If you’re organising separate but consecutive events, lasting longer than a week, there must be at least a 24-hour gap between each TEN.

There are also restrictions on the number of TENs that can be applied for, such as:

• You, as an individual, can get up to 5 TENs year.
• This number increases to 50 TENs a year if you already have a personal licence to sell alcohol.
• A single premises can have 15 TENs in one year with the total number of days of events not exceeding 21 days.

Will the council object to my TEN?

Unless the police or environmental health object to a TEN, then the council cannot refuse it.

However, if this is the case, they must do so within 3 working days. There are several reasons for which the police or environmental health may refuse your TEN application, including that the event could:

• Cause a public nuisance
• Lead to crime and disorder
• Be a threat to public safety
• Put children at risk of harm

If there is an objection, a hearing will be held no later than 24 hours before the event, unless all parties agree that a hearing is not necessary. At the hearing, the committee will either approve, add conditions, or reject the notice.

A hearing is only available for standard TENs. If an objection is made to a late TEN, you will not be able to hold the event.

Please note that this information is for general guidance only and should not substitute professional legal advice. If you have specific concerns, we recommend consulting one of our legal experts.