Apply for a Pavement Cafe Licence

On 31 March 2024, the Levelling up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) came into force. This replaces the temporary Pavement Cafe Licence arrangements introduced under the Business and Planning Act 2020. Within the LURA, the following now apply:

• first time applications will be charged at £500 and renewals will be charged at £350
• licences can now be issued up to a maximum of 2 years, at the discretion of West Berkshire Council
  • in most cases, initial applications will be issued for 12 months
  • if applicants abide by the conditions of their licence and no complaints are received then subsequent renewals will likely be issued for 24 months
• 14 day public consultation now applies for both first time applications and renewals

All existing licences will remain valid until their stated expiration. When the existing licence expires, applicants will need to apply for a renewal.

All applications and renewals will still be subject to a site assessment and must provide evidence of valid Public Liability Insurance. You can find full guidance on the process on GOV.UK.

You can also view application forms and plans for pavement cafe licences received in the past 12 months here.
 

Please note: 
Due to the ongoing experimental extension of the pedestrianised hours within Newbury Town Centre, the daily permitted hours of each licence will be site specific and determined by West Berkshire Council at the point of issue. The minimum permitted hours of each licence will be 10:00hrs - 17:00hrs with the intention to maximise these wherever possible. These hours may be subject to change and if so, West Berkshire Council will provide minimum 14 days written notice. 

Apply

To apply for a new licence or renew a licence, send the following documents to trafficandroadsafety@westberks.gov.uk:

• a completed Pavement Licence Application Form - Word and PDF versions available below. 
• a copy of current Public Liability Insurance (minimum £5 million)
• a plan clearly showing the relevant premises and the proposed area covered by the licence in relation to the highway (if not to scale, with measurements clearly shown)
• a photograph clearly showing page 1 of the completed  public consultation notice [28KB]  in the window of the premises (first day of the consultation being the date it is submitted) 

We will only consider your application once all four documents have been received.