Wedding, fair or party bar on a Temporary Event Notice: the dates, the limits and what changes for your cups

A wedding reception in a village hall, a school fair, a birthday party in a field: each one is a place where someone wants to run a bar for a day without a premises licence. In England and Wales a Temporary Event Notice is one route for a place without a licence to sell alcohol. The notice has its own clock, its own limits and its own rules about which licence conditions come along.

What a Temporary Event Notice is

GOV.UK says you need a Temporary Event Notice if you want to carry out a licensable activity on unlicensed premises in England or Wales, and that licensable activity includes selling alcohol. It adds that you also need one if a particular licensable activity is not covered by the terms of an existing licence, and gives the example of holding a wedding reception at a community centre. The guidance says that under the 2003 Act premises can mean any place, so an event under a notice need not be in a building: a park or a field can qualify.

The notice is given by an individual aged 18 or over, the premises user. Where alcohol is supplied, the notice must make it a condition of using the premises for those supplies that they are all made by or under the authority of the premises user. GOV.UK warns that running a licensable activity without the authorisation you should have can lead to a fine, a prison sentence of up to six months, or both, and the guidance notes that a notice does not remove the need for planning permission where that is required.

The clock

A standard notice must be given no later than ten working days before the day on which the event period begins. The guidance says the ten days exclude the day the notice is received and the first day of the event, and that a working day is any day other than a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday. It also says ten clear working days is the minimum, and that licensing authorities should encourage earlier notice. For a standard notice that is not given through GOV.UK or the council's own online facility, the guidance says copies must also reach the police and environmental health at least ten working days before the event.

A late notice can be given no later than five and no earlier than nine working days before the event. The police and environmental health have three working days to object. On a standard notice an objection leads to a hearing, unless all parties agree one is unnecessary; on a late notice the guidance says an objection makes the notice invalid and the event will not go ahead. GOV.UK gives the number of late notices as two a year for someone without a personal licence and ten for someone with one.

The limits

The event must have fewer than 500 people at any time, staff included, and last no more than 168 hours, which is seven days. A person without a personal licence can give five notices in a calendar year, and one with a personal licence can give fifty. A single premises can have up to fifteen notices in a calendar year, as long as the total length of the events is not more than 21 days, and the guidance counts an event that begins before midnight and continues into the next day as two days towards that limit. Separate events by the same premises user at the same premises need a gap of at least 24 hours, and the guidance treats an associate, relative or business partner of the premises user as the same premises user for these limits. The guidance adds that the premises user who signs the form is legally responsible for making sure the numbers present do not exceed the limit at any one time. The per-premises figures are due to change if a draft Order is made: the draft Licensing Act 2003 (Permitted Temporary Activities) (Amendment) Order 2026, laid before Parliament for approval by each House, would replace 15 notices with 20 and 21 days with 26 from 1 January 2027. It has not been made, so the per-premises figures above apply until an Order comes into force.

Which conditions come with it

The guidance says the mandatory licence conditions do not apply to activities, including the supply of alcohol, authorised by a temporary event notice. Our guides to the small measures condition and the free water condition describe two of them, and on that wording neither applies to a bar run under a notice.

Some rules that touch the cup still reach a bar run under a notice. One is the law on quantities: article 2 of the Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988 sets the quantities in which beer or cider that is not pre-packed in a securely closed container or sold as a constituent of a mixture of two or more liquids can be sold by retail and, for drinking on the premises, requires a capacity measure of that quantity. The exception to the capacity measure requirement applies only if four conditions are all met, the first being that the quantity is ascertained by stamped measuring equipment. Article 2 contains no exception for temporary events. Our markings guide and cup sizes guide cover what that means for the cup.

Another is conditions from the venue's own licence. Where part of the premises has a premises licence or club premises certificate, the licensing authority can apply conditions from it to a standard notice, but only if the police or environmental health have objected, the objection has not been withdrawn, and the authority considers it appropriate for the licensing objectives. The guidance says the authority can impose one or more of the existing licence or certificate conditions, as long as they are not inconsistent with the event. Our guide to licence conditions and plastic drinkware explains how the Home Office guidance treats conditions on drinking vessels.

Weddings and small events

The guidance says that where alcohol is supplied away from licensed premises at a temporary bar under the control of a personal licence holder, such as at weddings with a cash bar or small social or sporting events, this should not usually give rise to the police or environmental health objection powers. It is a statement about how those powers are expected to be used, and the notice periods above still apply.

What it means for the cup order

The notice date and the cup order run on separate clocks. A standard notice has to reach the council at least ten working days before the event, so the date and the venue need to be settled by then. The lead time for printed cups is shown on each product page, so this article does not quote it: settle the notice first, then work back from the event date using the lead time shown on the page.

On the cup side, the reusable event cups range starts at 50 cups for printed runs, and the page says that a single bar, a wedding or a whole festival season are all workable. Blank and generic stock is sold from 100. Free samples of standard reusable cups are available, though the sample page says they are not printed with your artwork and that free on-screen visuals of a bespoke design are included. If the event has a date, request a sample cup or ask for a quote with the sizes you plan to pour.

Where this stands

This was checked on 30 September 2026. GOV.UK and the September 2026 guidance agree on the notice periods and the numerical limits above, and legislation.gov.uk reports section 100 as up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 29 September 2026. A change on the horizon is the draft Order described under the limits, which would alter the per-premises figures from 1 January 2027 if it is made. The guidance encourages licensing authorities to publish their own preferences on how early to give notice, so check your council's page before you commit to a date.