Pavement trading
Do I need a pavement or street license to sell on the street?
A pavement licence allows a trader to extend their business from their premises onto the adjacent pavement using removable furniture, during opening hours, if there is space to do so safely.
If you have a private forecourt, clearly maintained by you, a licence may not be required to do this. Please check with us first.
However, the goods on sale outside must match the goods on sale inside the premises, the stall/refreshments must be operated by the premises staff and no till can be placed outside.
If these conditions are not met, a Street Trading Licence would be required for any land within 7m of the Highway, regardless of who owns it.
All permanent structures require planning permission and will only be permitted on private forecourts not on the public Highway.
We can grant licences for this activity in certain streets but not all.
Check to see if you are on an authorised street
Space for access
In all cases, a minimum of 2m clearance must be maintained between the goods/furniture and the kerb or any street furniture. In areas of busy footfall, this would increase to 3m or 3.5m. We cannot issue a licence for more than half of the available pavement. Your goods or furniture must not obstruct any access into adjoining properties.
All goods and furniture must be removed from the pavement when the premises is not trading.
Pavement Licences are issued at the Council's discretion, and we will refuse applications where there is not enough space on the pavement without causing disruption, obstruction, or inconvenience to other street users.
Find out more about tables and chairs on the pavement
Find out more about placing goods for sale on the pavement
Closure of licence - by us
A licence is revoked (closed) when the premises changes hands, if agreed installment payments are not made or if there are breaches in the conditions. Both licence types have a length of a maximum of one year.
Closure of licence - by you
If your business ceases, or you decide that you no longer wish to use the outside space, you must inform us in writing or you will liable for all the fees due for the period on the licence. For goods licences we will recalculate the invoice from the day we are told, or the day you cease trading, whichever is later. The fee for tables licences are fixed and cannot be refunded.
Transfer of licence
These licences cannot be transferred to a new owner or new premises. If you move to a new premises you must begin a new application and it will need to go through the full 28 day consultation. If you are selling your business, the new owner must apply as a new application. If this is co-ordinated with your sale, we can try to ensure that there is no gap in cover between the old licence and the new, but we cannot guarantee this.
Renewal of licence
These licences must be applied for annually but premises that have had a licence before do not have to carry out the 28 day consultation if there are no increases to the space requested or change of owner. We remind all current licence holders two months ahead of their expiry date, but it is the responsibility of the licence holder to apply in good time to avoid a gap in cover.
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