Serving hot drinks after 11pm at an event: when late night refreshment is a licensable activity

A coffee station, a hot chocolate stall or a tea urn that is still running after 11pm is easy to treat as hospitality and nothing more. In England and Wales it can also be a licensable activity in its own right. This article sets out what Schedule 2 to the Licensing Act 2003 says, which exemptions are likely to matter for an event, and where a Temporary Event Notice fits.

What the Act says

Section 1 of the Licensing Act 2003 lists four licensable activities: the sale by retail of alcohol, the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to a member, the provision of regulated entertainment, and the provision of late night refreshment. Schedule 2 defines the last of these. A person provides late night refreshment if, at any time between 11.00pm and 5.00am, they supply hot food or hot drink to members of the public, or a section of the public, on or from any premises, whether for consumption on or off the premises. A second limb covers the person who, at any time between those hours when members of the public or a section of the public are admitted to premises, supplies or holds themselves out as willing to supply hot food or hot drink to any persons or to persons of a particular description.

The Home Office guidance explains that the activity is regulated because it is often linked to alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder in the night-time economy, and that supply takes place when the hot food or drink is given to the customer, not when payment is made.

Section 136 makes it an offence to carry on or attempt to carry on a licensable activity otherwise than under and in accordance with an authorisation, or knowingly to allow one to be carried on. The penalty on summary conviction is imprisonment for up to six months, a fine, or both. An authorisation is a premises licence, a club premises certificate, or a temporary event notice whose conditions are met.

What counts as hot

Paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 treats food or drink as hot if the food or drink, or any part of it, was heated before supply, on the premises or elsewhere, for the purpose of enabling it to be consumed above the ambient air temperature and is above that temperature at the time of supply. It is also hot if, after it is supplied, it may be heated on the premises for the same purpose. In our reading, tea, coffee and hot chocolate poured from an urn or a machine fit that wording. The guidance says shops, stores and supermarkets selling only cold food and cold drink are not providing late night refreshment.

The exemptions that matter for events

Paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 lists the supplies that are exempt. These include:

- hot drink that consists of or contains alcohol, which the guidance says is licensed by the provisions on the sale or supply of alcohol - hot drink supplied by a vending machine, where the member of the public inserts the payment and the machine supplies the drink directly - hot food or hot drink supplied free of charge - supplies by a registered charity or a person authorised by a registered charity - supplies on a vehicle at a time when it is not permanently or temporarily parked

The free of charge exemption has a limit in paragraph 5(3): the drink is not free of charge if, in order to obtain it, a charge must be paid for admission to any premises or for some other item. A ticketed event with a free coffee point does not meet the exemption on that wording. The guidance adds that a mobile takeaway van that is parked, even temporarily, is not exempt.

Paragraph 3 exempts supplies where nobody is admitted to the premises or supplied with hot food or hot drink except by being a member of a recognised club, a person staying overnight at a hotel or comparable premises, an employee of a particular employer, a person engaged in a particular trade or profession, or a guest of any of those. In our reading, a staff-only evening with only employees and their guests present falls within that wording. The Act does not say how it applies to an invitation-only party, a wedding or a festival by name, and those are questions for the licensing authority.

Local exemptions

Paragraph 2A lets a licensing authority designate an area, a description of premises, or a period (beginning no earlier than 11.00pm and ending no later than 5.00am) in which the supply of hot food or hot drink is exempt. It must publish any designation. The 2015 Regulations prescribe the descriptions of premises it may designate: motorway service areas, premises retailing petrol or derv, premises of a local authority, schools, hospitals, community premises, and licensed premises authorised to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises between 11pm and 5am. Local authority premises, school premises and community premises are excluded from the exemption when an event is taking place at which more than 500 people are present.

The guidance says authorities do not have to use the exemptions and can keep requiring all late night refreshment providers to be licensed. Whether yours has designated anything is a matter of reading its published designations or asking.

If an event needs authorisation

Where the activity is licensable and no exemption applies, the options in section 136(5) are a premises licence, a club premises certificate or a temporary event notice. Section 100 lets an individual give a temporary event notice of a proposal to use premises for one or more licensable activities, and the notice must state which licensable activities are involved. Our guide to temporary event notices for weddings, fairs and parties covers the notice itself. The Home Office guidance also says it is not expected that late night refreshment as a secondary activity in licensed premises such as pubs, cinemas or nightclubs should give rise to a need for significant additional conditions.

Coffee cups and the late-night table

The reusable coffee cups page lists the Now Cups range as 350ml (12oz) cups with a secure-fit lid, and as suitable for hot and cold use. Cups reused across an event need washing, covered in our guide to washing reusable cups between events. The licensing question concerns the activity and not the cup, so this article makes no claim about how any cup performs with a hot drink. To plan a run for an event, ask for a quote with the format and the quantity.

Where this stands

This was checked on 1 October 2026. Schedule 2 and sections 1, 100 and 136 were read in their revised form on legislation.gov.uk. The 2015 Regulations are held only in their as made form. The Home Office guidance is the September 2026 edition. The Act applies to England and Wales, and the Regulations prescribe premises for the purposes of paragraph 2A(2) of its Schedule 2.