A horse walks into a bar* (or how to be ready for the races…)

Eleanor Jordan, Solicitor

Horse racing season is well underway and the Cheltenham Festival is soon approaching, taking the first spot in our calendars on Tuesday 11 March through to Friday 14 March, closely followed by the Grand National Festival on Thursday 3 April to Saturday 5 April.

Love it or hate it, this season isn’t just about fancy outfits and outrageous hats, but it is a time for you to give other operators a run for their money, take the reins and “stirrup” some extra business. For example, you could introduce a breakfast sitting for early birds or extend your hours so that you catch the late-night trade wishing to spend their winnings.

But before you get carried away, hold your horses and think about whether you need a temporary event notice (TEN) for your plans, so you don’t get saddled with allegations of operating licensable activities without the appropriate authorisations in place.

So that you can forecast the TENs you might need, remember – each premises can have up to 15 TENs per calendar year, 5 of which can be ‘late’ TENs. Each TEN can last up to a maximum of 7 days but there must be a gap of 24 hours between each TEN. And to put you through your paces a bit more – requests for ‘ordinary’ TENs must also be submitted at least 10 clear working days before the event. If you fall at that hurdle, you could still be in the running to lodge a ‘late’ TEN so long as there are 5 clear working days prior to an event. But – be warned – if there is a counter notice to the late TEN, there is no scope for a hearing, and it will be automatically rejected.

If you want to make sure you’re first out of the stalls by lodging TENs for the races, or if you need any other licensing advice, please contact our Licensing team on 0161 838 7888 or email info@kuits.com.

*The barman confuses idioms with jokes and offers him a glass of water, but can’t make him drink.