What's the issue?

Opening and running a hospitality business should be straightforward and affordable. Right now, complex and costly licensing rules hold cafes, restaurants and bars back. The Government is actively asking the public and hospitality owners for views on changing the law to make the system more business friendly, cheaper and easier. Add your name and make your voice count. 

What are we asking for?

• Scrap costly newspaper ads. Currently, businesses who want a premises licence need to pay £340 on average to advertise in a newspaper. It is unnecessary cost that brings no value to the licensing process.  Even in 2011, the Government’s own analysis found newspaper ads to be extremely ineffective and proposed removing the duty to advertise in newspapers.
• Create Hospitality, Leisure and Cultural Zones. Use clear zoning to support vibrant high streets and night-time economies, with rules that are consistent and pro-growth. The current call for evidence highlights zoning as a strategic tool.
• Simplify outdoor trading and pavement licences. Make it easy for venues to serve customers outside with a single and streamlined process. UK deserves more al fresco dining!

Why this matters?

Hospitality businesses create jobs, boost local economies and bring life to our streets. Licensing should protect communities and enable responsible operators - not bury them in paperwork and avoidable costs. 

What should you do?

Add your name to this petition to express your support and back reforms that make it simpler and cheaper to open and run a cafe, restaurant or bar.

If you wish, you respond to the official call for evidence so your views are counted by Government - https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system 

If you wish to contact us directly, or have any ideas that you would like to share with us, please reach out to us on www.barnab.xyz or send us an email to licensing.uk@barnab.xyz

In case you want to read in more detail…

Opening a café, bar or shop shouldn’t feel like a fight. It should be exciting. It should be possible without paying for red tape that doesn’t help anyone.

Right now, outdated rules add cost and stress. Small businesses are asked to do things that made sense 20 years ago, not today. That slows down jobs, new ideas and vibrant streets.

We’re asking for three simple fixes.

First, scrap the costly newspaper ad. Today, a new venue must pay around £340 on average to place a tiny notice in a local paper. Most people never see it. That money should go to staff, stock and rent, not a notice no one reads.

Second, make it easy to create Hospitality, Leisure and Cultural Zones. Use clear, simple rules to support lively high streets and night-time economies. Give councils tools to back growth while keeping people safe.

Third, simplify outdoor trading and pavement licences. Let businesses seat people outside with one straightforward process. Don’t make owners jump through extra hoops to put out two chairs and a table.

This matters because small businesses are the heart of our towns and cities. They create jobs. They bring life to our streets. They are run by people who put everything on the line to serve their communities.

Barnab has worked with thousands of small businesses, helping them navigating complex licensing processes. We see where the system works, and where it gets in the way. Here are the key problems and the fixes that will help:

Newspaper notices are expensive and ineffective.
Publishing a licensing notice in a local newspaper is the single most expensive part of many applications. Prices are opaque and can be shockingly high. We have seen a Liverpool notice cost £505.56 before VAT (£606.67 with VAT). We have seen a Yorkshire Evening Post quote of £1,194.24 before VAT (£1,433.09 with VAT). None of this improves safety or transparency. It just drains small business budgets.

The government already explored removing this duty back in 2011. The right conclusion then was to scrap it. It’s long overdue. Most public objections come from people who see the blue notice on the door, not a tiny box in a paper. Keeping the blue notice works. If an extra channel is needed, councils already have websites and social posts that people actually read.

Rules are applied too rigidly.
We’ve seen applications derailed by tiny errors that don’t affect public safety. A notice date off by one day. A plan with the “wrong” colour outline. A council refusing email submissions because the 2003 Act imagined only post. These things force restarts, extra costs and months of delay. Officers need clearer guidance to use discretion and focus on what really matters.

Modern businesses don’t fit old boxes.
Online alcohol retailers are forced to license a corner of a warehouse or even a home address just to satisfy the framework. Fees can be based on the whole warehouse rateable value, not the small unit, which is unfair. Food trucks and mobile bars can’t get a normal premises licence at all and must live on short-term TENs. The law should recognise these models and support them properly.

Make outdoor trading simple and welcoming.
Councils ask for highly detailed pavement layouts and extra paperwork that don’t add safety. Some apply fixed clearance distances everywhere, even on wide pavements with light footfall. Others reject site notices for not being “signed”, even though the main application is signed. Pavement use should be a simple tick-box within the premises licence. Where flexibility is needed, let businesses choose seasonal months so they aren’t paying for winter they won’t use. Short-term outdoor use should be easy to add for big moments like the World Cup or local festivals.

Keep TENs practical.
Temporary Event Notices are used sensibly. Raising limits would help community and business events, with no extra safeguards needed in most cases.

Treat blanket policies with care.
Core hours and special policy areas can freeze out new entrants. In places like Shoreditch and Dalston, long-standing venues keep late hours while newcomers are held to earlier closing. Applications for later hours, including 24/7 in the right locations, should be judged case by case with evidence, not blocked by default.

Fix how objections work.
Too many objections to licence applications are accepted without evidence. Some come from competitors who just want to block a rival. Councils should screen for that. Claims about noise or crime should be checked by the right teams, like Environmental Health or the police, with facts.

We had a case where one person triggered a full licensing hearing with the council because they objected to a restaurant licence application who wanted to stay open until 11pm. Her claim was that they need to be able to go to bed at 7pm. It didn’t matter that 100s of people in town were in support of the application. It didn’t matter that the restaurant agreed to put in noise insulation to protect her from any residual noise. The licence was delayed, a full committee hearing had to be conducted, that’s time and money wasted. In the end, the licence was granted as requested, but did this case really warrant such costly delays?

Residential objections need to be validated by appropriate teams. Residents should also see the conditions an applicant offers, not just the hours. And objectors should try to talk to the applicant first. Early conversation often solves worries and avoids hearings.

A small but powerful tidy-up.
If a venue already has on-sales, it should be able to do off-sales too unless there’s a clear reason not to. That simple change removes confusion and mirrors the temporary COVID flexibility that worked well.

These are practical fixes. They keep businesses running responsibly. They cut paperwork. They support jobs and local culture. Most of all, they give small businesses a fair chance to open, trade and thrive.

Please sign and share. Your name tells decision-makers that common sense should win.