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LICENSING ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1971 - SECT 5

Powers of court on applications for licences.

5.(1) Subject to subsection (2), where an application is made for the grant of
a licence, the court, after hearing the objections, if any, made under Part I
of Schedule 1,

(a)if the application was duly made, may grant the licence; or

(b)may refuse to grant the licence.

(2) Without prejudice to its power to refuse to grant a licence on any ground,
a court shall not grant a licence for any premises unless it is satisfied

(a)that the applicant is a fit person to hold a licence; and

(b)that the premises are of the kind specified in the application and either
that they are suitable to be licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor by
retail or if they are not suitable that they will be made suitable in
consequence of an order under section 6; and

(c)where the premises are of a kind mentioned in section 3(1)(a) or (b)

(i)subject to subsection (3), that the number of licensed premises of the kind
specified in the application which are in the vicinity of the premises is, and
having regard to any licences provisionally granted under section 7 or any
sites approved under section 8 will be, inadequate; and

(ii)subject to subsection (4), that a subsisting licence for premises of
either such kind [, or a subsisting licence in respect of which the note and
record mentioned in paragraph 7 of Schedule 11 have been made,] has been
surrendered to the clerk of the court or will be so surrendered before the
licence is issued; and

<(iii)where, under any statutory provision, the applicant is or will be entitled to compensation for the loss of goodwill which attached or attaches to the business carried on under the licence proposed to be surrendered, that he has abandoned his claim to so much of that compensation as is equivalent to the value of any of that goodwill which is likely to be attracted to the business proposed to be carried on under the new licence.


(3) [Without prejudice to paragraph 6 of Schedule 3] subsection (2)(c)(i)
shall not apply where

(a)the subsisting licence which is proposed to be surrendered is for premises
to which paragraph 2(a) of Schedule 2 applies and which were or are on the
site or in the vicinity of the premises for which the licence is sought; or

(b)the site of the premises for which the licence is sought has been approved
under section 8 as a site for licensed premises of the kind specified in the
application.

(4) Subsection (2)(c)(ii) shall not apply

(a)where

(i)the premises for which the licence is sought are situated in an area
designated by an order under section 1 or 47 of the New Towns Act (Northern
Ireland) 1965 as the site of a new town or a town to be expanded or developed
under that Act; and

(ii)if a new town commission have been established for the purposes of the
town, an order has not been made under section 33 of that Act for the
winding-up of the commission; or

(b)where, at any time during the period of five years immediately preceding
the date of the application for the licence, a previous licence (including a
licence under the statutory provisions repealed by this Act) was in force for
the premises for which the licence is sought, as being premises of the kind
specified in the application, and has not been surrendered under this Act or
any of those statutory provisions or annulled under any of those provisions.

(5) Schedule 2 defines the circumstances in which a licence is or is not to be
treated as a subsisting licence.

(6) Where the court refuses to grant a licence, it shall specify in its order
the reasons for its refusal.

© 1971 Crown Copyright

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