Types of alcohol licences
An alcohol licence is specific to your business and where it's located. If you move your business to a new location, you need to apply for a new licence. If you sell your business, the new owner needs to apply for their own licence. Keep reading to find out what type of alcohol licence you need for your business.
Supplying alcohol at a new business or club
If you're planning on selling alcohol from a business or club, there are 3 different alcohol licences that may apply – on-licence, off-licence and club licence.
On-licence: your customers will drink alcohol on the premises
An on-licence allows you to sell or supply alcohol for customers to drink on your premises.
You need an on-licence if your business is a:
- restaurant, café or BYO
- tavern, pub, bar or nightclub
- hotel
- caterer.
Off-licence: your customers will buy alcohol to drink somewhere else
An off-licence allows you to sell, supply or deliver alcohol for customers to drink off your premises. This includes offering small, free tastings.
You need an off-licence if your business is a:
- bottle store
- wine shop
- supermarket or grocery store
- auctioneer.
You will also need an off-licence if you want to sell alcohol remotely (for example, through a website or smartphone app).
Club licence: sell alcohol at a sport or social club
A club licence allows you to sell or supply alcohol to drink on the premises of a club to:
- club members
- authorised guests
- members of clubs with reciprocal visiting rights.
To be eligible for this type of licence, your club must:
- be incorporated
- have an appointed duty manager who is responsible for the sale and supply of alcohol
- have a secretary, and
- proceeds from the sale of alcohol must belong to the club.
Depending on the nature of your business, you may want more than one type of licence – for example, a hotel could have an on-licence and an off-licence.
Taking over a licensed business
If you buy an existing licensed premises and wish to continue selling alcohol, you need to apply for a temporary authority to operate until your own licence has been granted. A temporary authority is valid for up to 3 months. It will only be issued if the existing licence for the premises is still current.
You need to apply for the temporary authority at least 20 working days before the takeover date. Temporary authorities can't be granted to club licensed premises.
Supplying alcohol at an event
Apply for a special licence if you want to sell alcohol at a one-off event or series of events. Under a special licence, customers must pay for the alcohol they consume – either over a bar, as a koha, or as part of the event entry fee or ticket price.
Examples of when you need a special licence:
- ticketed events like festivals, concerts and sporting events where alcohol is included in the ticket price or sold at a bar
- bus, train and limo trips where alcohol will be sold or included in the price of the ticket
- an event at a licensed premises that's not covered by the normal licence – for example, a band playing outside your normal licensed hours
- social club and community club events where membership fees go towards buying alcohol.