The conditionsa room of this kind would work under

01ObjectivesFour of them, unweighted

Every decision a licensing authority takes under the Licensing Act 2003 is taken by reference to four statutory objectives, and every condition that ends up on a licence is there because somebody argued that it promotes one of them. The four are the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm.

They are not weighted against each other and they are not a checklist to be ticked. An operating schedule that deals with three of them carefully and the fourth in a sentence is a schedule that has invited a representation about the fourth.

02ApplicationA bundle, not a form

An application for a premises licence is a bundle of documents rather than a single form, and an incomplete bundle is returned rather than considered.

• The application, naming each licensable activity sought and the hours sought for each.
• An operating schedule, setting out the steps proposed to promote each of the four objectives.
• A plan of the premises showing the boundary, the exits, the bar, the fixed structures and where each licensable activity would take place.
• Consent of the designated premises supervisor, where alcohol is to be sold.
• Notice to the responsible authorities, plus a notice displayed at the premises and published as required.

Once it is lodged a representation period runs for twenty-eight days, during which the responsible authorities and other persons may make representations. If none is received the application is granted in the terms applied for. If any is, the application goes to a hearing before a licensing sub-committee, which may grant it, grant it with modified conditions or hours, or refuse it.

03MandatoryConditions that attach by law

Some conditions do not have to be argued for, because they attach to every premises licence authorising the sale of alcohol. They cover the designated premises supervisor and the requirement that every sale is made under the authority of a personal licence holder; a prohibition on irresponsible drinks promotions; a prohibition on dispensing alcohol directly into the mouth; the availability of free tap water; the operation of an age verification policy; and the availability of smaller measures.

04ScheduleWhat a room of this kind carries

Beyond the mandatory conditions, what a licensing authority attaches to a club and lounge of this type is generally drawn from a familiar set. Each item below maps onto a page of this site, which is deliberate.

Recording

Cameras operating whenever licensable activities take place, footage retained for a stated period, and somebody on site able to produce it on request.

Door supervision

Licensed supervisors on specified nights or from a specified hour, with a register kept on the premises.

Logs

A refusals log and an incident log, both held on the premises and produced on request.

Occupancy

A maximum figure, together with the method by which it is counted.

Dispersal

A written policy covering the outside areas and the hour each of them closes.

Noise

A limit measured at the nearest noise-sensitive façade, with a limiter set and sealed to it.

The reason to draft a schedule against that list is that a condition the operator proposes is a condition the operator has already worked out how to meet. A condition imposed at a hearing is one somebody else designed, usually in a hurry, and frequently in terms that are harder to live with.

05PositionStated plainly, once

Where this site describes a policy — the door, the rig, the running order, the hire terms — it is describing a draft intended to form part of an operating schedule, written out in full because a policy that has not been written down cannot be proposed. None of it is in force.

The licensing authority for this address is West Suffolk Council. Its public register of premises licences is the only authoritative record of what is and is not permitted at 82A James Carter Road, and it should be preferred over anything written here.