Hackney Council's Licensing Committee convened on Wednesday, 16 July 2025, to review the performance of the Licensing Service during 2023/24 and 2024/25 and to consider the aims and targets for 2025/26.
The Licensing Service Annual Report 2023/24 and 2024/25 highlighted several key areas, including licensing functions, policy development for alcohol, entertainment, gambling, and sex establishments, and the provision of guidance on licensing processes. Enforcement of licensing legislation is a shared responsibility with other regulatory partners.
Licensing Activity
The report provided statistics on various licensing activities. New premises licence applications have seen an increase over the last three years, with 128 applications received in 2024/25, compared to 104 in 2023/24. This reverses a trend of falling applications over the previous 5 years.
Temporary Event Notices (TENs) also saw fluctuations. Standard TENs numbered 1271 in 2024/25, down from 1576 the previous year. Late TENs also decreased slightly, from 559 to 499. The Licensing Service noted that the annual levels have not returned to those experienced pre-pandemic where well over 2000 TENs were being received on an annual basis. The report does not specify the implications of this.
Reviews of premises licences have decreased, with only three received in 2024/25, compared to two in 2023/24 and nine in 2022/23. The higher numbers in previous years were linked to concerns as a result of incidents and operations in the initial aftermath of the pandemic.
Personal licences issued remained steady, with 262 new licences in 2024/25, almost identical to the 263 issued in 2023/24. The number of Licensing Sub-Committee hearings increased to 44 in 2024/25, up from 35 the previous year.
Other Licences
The number of betting licences remained stable at 33. New and renewed Massage and Special Treatments (MST) licences continue to show levels returning to those seen pre-pandemic.
Projects and Future Plans
The report also looked back at projects from the previous year, including the Cumulative Impact Assessment and review of the Statement of Licensing Policy, the Hackney Nights Strategy, the re-introduction of regular risk-based inspections of licensed premises, and the implementation of a Salesforce database to automate processes. The Hackney Nights Strategy was consulted on between July and October 2024 and came into effect on 27 June 2025. Minutes from the 21 May 2025 meeting noted that Time Out's survey of 40 leading night time venues revealed that a considerable number were located in Hackney and held accreditation from Hackney Nights. Hackney Nights also collaborated with Hackney Youth and the Domestic Abuse Intervention Service to distribute leaflets with information in relation to violence against women and girls.
Planned activity for 2025/26 includes the continued implementation of the new database, working with colleagues in ICT and other regulatory services. The purpose of this is:
- To provide a step change in how the service carries out its operations
- To make significant efficiency savings
- To promote customer channel shift, moving from paper based to digital
- To enable more cloud based working, automation
- To further support intelligence led decision making
The Salesforce database will automate processes such as temporary event notices, food business registration, and annual reminder letters, while greatly reducing the manual administration and data entry carried out by officers. It will also allow for greater use of mapping, integration with payment systems, text messaging, and handheld devices.
The enforcement of licensing legislation is shared with other regulatory partners.
