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Club premises certificate

Clubs which are currently referred to as ‘registered members clubs’ where members have joined together for particular social, sporting or political purposes e.g. Labour, Conservative, Liberal clubs, Royal British Legion, other ex-service men's clubs, working men's clubs, miners welfare institutions and social and sports clubs, will be known as 'qualifying clubs' under the new licensing act, and can apply for a club premises certificate.

There are statutory qualifying conditions for these clubs, and full details can be seen in the Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Annex I), however the five general conditions are as follows:

  • Persons may not –
  • Be admitted to membership or
  • Be admitted, as candidated for membership, to any privileges of membership

Without an interval of at least two days between their nomination or application for membeship and their admission.

  • Persons becoming members without prior nomination or application may not be admitted to the privelieges of membership without an interval of at least two days between their becoming members and their admission
  • The club is established and conducted in good faith as a club
  • The club has at least 25 members
  • Alcohol is not supplied , to members on the premieses otherwise than by or on behalf of the club

Proprietary clubs do not fall into this catergory, as they are run commercially by individuals, partnerships or businesses for the purposes of profit, and therefore these clubs would require a premises licence.

As there is technically no ‘sale’ of alcohol in ‘qualifying clubs’, there is no need for anyone to hold a personal licence, and there is no need to have a designated premises supervisor.

However, an important point to note is that only members and bonafide guests may benefit from the facilities offered under the club premises certificate.

If members of the public are admitted to events at the club (even on a limited number of occasions a year), then a premises licence may be required. This would, of course, mean a personal licence and DPS would also be required if the licenceable activities include the sale of alcohol.

There are however other options available, for example, any person can give up to five temporary even notices for events at the club (up to twelve may be held at any one club in any one year), and on those occasions, members of the public may be admitted. Further information regarding temporary event notices can be found on the related pages.

The club may choose to have part of the premises running under a club premises certificate, and another part, for example, a function room, could be run under a premises licence, with the benefits of being able to admit members of the public if required and provide a greather degree of flexibility.

Apart from the above differences, the procedures and application arrangements are the same as for the premises licences.

Forms

If you are applying for a club premises certificate you will need to complete a declaration as well as an application – see the first two links below.

Adobe PDF

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Contact us

Licensing Unit
Walsall Council
Challenge Building
Hatherton Road
Walsall
WS1 1YG

Telephone 01922 653583 / 653581  
Email licensing@walsall.gov.uk