Occasional alcohol licence

If you hold a premises licence, a personal licence or are from a voluntary organisation and wish to sell alcohol from premises that are not licensed, you may apply for an occasional licence.

A voluntary organisation may only be issued with an occasional licence if they have not had more than four occasional licences that last for four days or more or more than 12 licences that last for less than four days and that the licences issued do not cover more than 56 days in a 12 month period.

Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Applicants for an occasional licence must be either the holder of a premises licence, the holder of a personal licence or a representative of a voluntary organisation.

Applications must be on a prescribed form and include the following information:

• the name and address of the licence holder;
• a description of the premises;
• details of the activities carried out on the premises;
• the time period for when the licence will have effect;
• details of times when alcohol can be sold on the premises;
• if alcohol is to be sold for consumption on or off the premises or both;
• times when any other activities other than the sale of alcohol will take place on the premises;
• where alcohol is to be sold on the premises whether children will have access to the premises and if so details of the ages of the children allowed to enter, the times when they are allowed to enter and the parts of the premises they are allowed to enter;
• any other information required

The Licensing Board will give notice of the application to the local chief constable and to the Licensing Standards Officer (LSO). The chief constable if he considers it necessary for the purposes of the crime prevention objective recommend that the application be refused. The LSO may prepare and submit to the Licensing Board a report setting out the Officer's comments on the application.

If a licensing board has not received any notice from a chief constable, a report from a Licensing Standards officer or a notice of objection or representation from any other person they must grant the application.

If any of these have been received the board must consider if there are grounds for refusal. If so the application will be refused, if not it must be granted.

Hearings may be heard when applications are being considered. If a hearing is not heard the applicant must be given the opportunity to comment on any notice or report.

The following are grounds for refusal:

• the premises are excluded premises;
• there are no exceptional circumstances for allowing the sale of alcohol on the premises during a continuous period of  24 hours or more;
• the application requests the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises before 10.00, after 22.00 or both on any day;
• the granting of the application would be inconsistent with one or more of the licensing objectives; and
• having regard to: the nature of the activities proposed, the location, character and condition of the premises and the types of people likely to visit the premises, it is decided that the premises are unsuitable for use for the sale of alcohol;

Notification of a refusal or granting of an application will be given to the applicant, the chief constable, the LSO and any person who gave a notice of objection or representation. A statement of reasons can be requested by any person served with such a notice.

No. It is in the public interest that the authority must process your application before it can be granted. If you have not heard from the local authority within a reasonable period, please contact it. You can do this online if you applied through the UK Welcomes service or use the contact details below.

Any person may object to an application by way of a notice to the licensing authority or make representations in support of the application or in relation to any conditions that should be attached to the licence.

Appeals against the granting of an application must be made to the sheriff principal of the sheriffdom where the principal office of the Licensing Board is located.

Please visit our Licensing Fees page for information about paying for your Occasional Alcohol License.

Scottish Food and Drink Federation

The Licensing Board may, on application issue an occasional licence authorising the sale of alcohol on unlicensed premises

An occasional licence will be valid for no more than 14 days.

Conditions will be attached to a licence.