Temporary Event Notice

When does an event require a temporary event notice?

You must submit a temporary event notice (TEN) to authorise one or more licensable activities. Examples of which include:

• The sale of alcohol – this could be by way of a pay bar, a glass of wine included within the ticket price, or by asking for a donation
• Extension of hours or specifying a licensed activity which is not currently included on an existing premises licence
• The provision of hot food and hot drinks between 23:00 and 05:00.
• The provision of regulated entertainment, which includes: plays, films, indoor sporting events, boxing/wrestling, live music, recorded music, or performance of dance 

There are however a number of exemptions where a licence or TEN is not required, which are:

• Films for the purposes of advertisement, information, or education.
• Film exhibitions in museums and art galleries. 
• Music incidental to certain other unlicensed activities, for example a music round at a quiz night, or background music at a Christmas grotto.
• The showing of television or radio broadcasts.
• Any entertainment that is for the purposes of a religious meeting/service, or at a place of public religious worship.
• Morris dancing.

There are also a number of activities which have been deregulated and do not require a licence or TEN including:

• An unamplified performance of live music at any place between the hours of 8am and 11pm.
• A performance of amplified live music or playing of recorded music between 8am and 11pm at a premises that is licensed to sell alcohol on the premises (before an audience of no more than 500 people).
• A performance of amplified live music at a workplace if it takes place between 8am and 11pm (before an audience of no more than 500 people).
• A performance of a play, if it takes place between 8am and 11pm (before an audience of no more than 500 people).
• A performance of dance, if it takes place between 8am and 11pm (before an audience of no more than 500 people).
• Staging an indoor sporting event, if it takes place between 8am and 11pm (before no more than 1000 spectators).
• A contest, exhibition or display or Greco-Roman wrestling, or freestyle wrestling between 8am and 11pm (before no more than 1000 spectators).

There have also been some de-regulations that relate only to certain types of premises. These are:

• Local authority premises - No licence is needed for any entertainment taking place on the premises of the local authority as long as the entertainment is being provided by or on behalf of the local authority.
• Hospital premises - No licence is needed for any entertainment taking place on the hospital premises as long as the entertainment is being provided by or on behalf of the health care provider.
• School premises - No licence is needed for any entertainment taking place on the school premises as long as the entertainment is being provided by or on behalf of the school proprietor.
• A travelling circus - No licence is needed for any entertainment (other than films, boxing or wrestling) taking place at a travelling circus as long as it takes place within a moveable structure that accommodates the audience and as long as the travelling circus has not been located on the same site for more than 28 consecutive days.
• Community premises (church hall, village hall, community hall or other similar community buildings) : – 
• No licence is needed for a film exhibition as long as it is "not-for-profit” and the audience does not exceed 500.  The organiser must get consent to the screening from a person responsible for the premises and must ensure that such screening abides by age classification ratings.
• Where the community premises is not licensed for the sale of alcohol - No licence is needed for a performance of live music or to play recorded music between 8am and 11pm before an audience of no more than 500 people as long as the organiser gets consent for the performance from a person responsible for the premises.

If an exemption or deregulation does not apply to the activity planned, then you will need to apply for a Temporary Event Notice.

Applying for a temporary event notice

Please use our new online Temporary Event Notice Application Form.

Following your submission a copy will be shared with our environmental protection team, whilst another will be used by our Licensing team. A further copy will also be sent to Kent Police via e-mail to licensing.east.division@kent.pnn.police.uk.

Left it too late?

You can still submit a late TEN up to five (5) clear working days before the event, not including the day of submission or the day of the event. Please ensure you read the information on making late notices before submitting your late TEN.

• Late temporary event notices can be submitted and they must give 5 clear working days before the event date.

• There is a limit of 10 late notices for personal licence holders and two late notices for non-personal licence holders per calendar year. These count towards the total number of temporary event notices.

• If either the police or environmental protection object to an event then it will not go ahead and a counter notice will be issued.

Contact us

For further information please email the Licensing team.