Takeaways and pubs could serve hot food until midnight, or 12.30am at weekends, without a licence. Councillors backed a 10-week consultation on 3 November.
Takeaways, cafes and pubs across St Albans district could serve hot food and drink later in the evening without a licence, under plans backed by councillors this week. The council’s licensing officer told them that, as far as his research could find, no other council in the country has used the power.
At present any business serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am needs a premises licence for “late night refreshment”. The council wants to lift that requirement for the first hour or so after 11pm.
The Licensing and Regulatory Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday 3 November to put the proposal out to public consultation. Nothing changes yet. The consultation has to run, the committee has to look at it again, and Full Council has to make the final decision.
What the council is proposing
The officers’ report to the committee sets out two changes, both under paragraph 2A of Schedule 2 to the Licensing Act 2003:
- Any premises in the district could serve hot food and drink without a licence from 11pm to midnight, Sunday to Thursday, and 11pm to 12.30am on Friday and Saturday.
- Pubs, bars and restaurants licensed to sell alcohol for drinking on the premises could serve hot food for as long as their alcohol licence runs after 11pm.
Later than that, a licence would still be needed. The report says “the later a premises opens, the more likely there will be a negative impact”, so it is not proposing to lift the rule altogether. Planning, fire safety and food safety rules would apply exactly as now.
The law counts the moment food is handed over, not when it was ordered. A pizza ordered at 10.59pm and handed to a delivery driver at 11.15pm needs a licence today.
Why the council wants to do it
The report argues that the licence is a heavy burden for what is often one extra hour of trade. Applying takes 28 days to two months. The fee runs from £100 to £635 depending on the premises’ rateable value, and most fall in the £190 band. Applicants must also pay for a public notice in a local newspaper and supply detailed plans.
A pub that already has an alcohol licence but wants to add late-night food has to go through a full variation, which the report says is “identical to a new premises licence, with all the same requirements and fees”.
The council’s case rests on three points:
- Very few complaints. Since 2018 the council has had four complaints about late-night takeaways. All four were about premises trading without a licence, and all before midnight.
- Pubs that stop food at 11pm. Some pubs open later than 11pm stop serving food at that point because their licence does not cover it. Officers told the committee that several they had spoken to said the change would help them.
- National policy. The report cites the government’s National Licensing Policy Framework, which asks councils to look at what they can do to support the night-time economy.
To see how many businesses would be affected, officers searched food delivery platforms.
They found 38 licensed premises advertising hours after 11pm, and 27 of those keep within the proposed hours. They also found nine premises advertising after 11pm with no licence at all; eight of them would be within the new hours.
The report puts the cost to the council at about £4,860 a year in licence fees, if all 27 of those licensed premises gave up their licences.
Likely the first council to use the power
Councils have been able to do this since the Deregulation Act 2015 added the power to the Licensing Act. Asked by Councillor Jesús Pastor whether any other authority had used it, Daniel Pattenden, the council’s environmental health manager for licensing, said officers had checked with neighbouring councils and the Institute of Licensing and could find none. “We would likely be the first in the country to utilise this power,” he told the committee, according to the meeting webcast.
Councillor Mike Hobday called the plan “at the very least 99 per cent upside”. Councillor Brian Gunson suggested it could become an example for other councils, with a report on how it went.
Concerns raised
Councillor Teresa Heritage said she was there to represent residents and asked whether later food deliveries would affect people living nearby. Mr Pattenden said the council could not say there would be no impact “because we honestly don’t know, we’ve never done this before”. Delivery drivers on the road fall outside licensing control, he said; what the council regulates is the moment a business hands the food over.
Councillor Jamie Day asked whether businesses had pushed for the change. Officers said there had been some conversations with pubs, but no organised pressure: the idea came from the licensing team.
The proposed hours were chosen, officers said, to sit between the times when most of the district’s pubs close, either at midnight or after 1am.
What happens next
- A 10-week public consultation. The report says it will be on the council’s website and promoted on social media. Licence holders, the St Albans BID, ward councillors, town and parish councils, the police and the Institute of Licensing will all be asked. The council had not opened it when we checked on 6 November.
- Back to the committee. Officers said the results would come back in January. The committee’s next listed meeting is Thursday 21 January 2027.
- Full Council decides. Because the licensing authority is the council itself, the final decision has to be made there.
If it goes ahead, the report says it would be reviewed after 12 months and come back to the committee within 18 months. The police, environmental health or other responsible authorities could ask for an earlier review if it caused problems, and the council can vary or revoke it at any time.
What it means for you
- If you run a takeaway, cafe or pub, keep your licence for now. Nothing changes until Full Council agrees it. If you only trade until midnight, or 12.30am at weekends, you may not need a late-night refreshment licence once it does.
- If you live near a takeaway or a pub, the consultation is your chance to say whether you expect noise, litter or delivery traffic to get worse. The council has said it will ask that question directly.
- If you just want food after 11pm, more places could be open slightly later, though no business has to change its hours.
Alcohol licensing is not affected, and nor is hot food served after midnight, or after 12.30am at weekends.
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