Food and drink regulations

If you want to sell alcoholic drinks at your event, you need a licence unless you use a venue that is already licenced, such as a pub or restaurant.

You can apply to your local council for a short term licence, known as a Temporary Event Notice (TEN), which costs £21.  TENs can only be used to authorise events involving no more than 500 people and lasting no more than 8 days. Make sure you apply for your licence well in advance, and no later than 10 working days before the day on which the event is to start.

You can serve alcohol if you are not asking people to pay for it, so you could think about increasing your ticket price and including drinks for ‘free’, or asking for a voluntary donation rather than minimum payment per drink.

Food safety laws apply when food is available at an event whether it is for sale or not, so you must make sure you follow the relevant food hygiene procedures. For further information on food hygiene and safety legislation see www.food.gov.uk or contact your local authority environmental health department.