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Legal Eagle

Licensing

Q: Disused buildings for performance space

I am currently looking into putting a show on in a disused tower block and I was wondering what are the legal aspects behind doing this and will I get insurance cover?

A: It seems to me that the following matters need to be addressed:

1) The premises will require a regulated entertainment licence under the Licensing Act 2003 unless no charge is made for admission or for use of the entertainment facilities. A separate music and dancing licence is no longer required but music and dancing remain regulated entertainment unless 'incidental' to another activity which is not itself regulated entertainment.

2) If the entertainment is to be provided exclusively for members of a private 'qualifying' club and their guests, you will need a club premises certificate under the 2003 Act.

3) If you contemplate running a bar for alcoholic refreshment of your theatre audience, you will need a separate liquor licence.

4) You will need to comply with health and safety regulations relating to both the premises and the production, which is a big topic in itself. Indeed, you are unlikely to obtain the other licences mentioned above unless you do so. The fact that you describe the premises as 'disused' and a 'tower block' indicates to me that the premises are in a state of some disrepair and that you contemplate presentation of your production at some high-rise level. Both factors will affect your ability to comply with health and safety requirements, to say nothing of the expense of doing so.

5) By the same token, you are unlikely to be able to obtain an entertainment licence required as above unless the premises comply with fire regulations.

6) The proposed use of the premises will need to comply with town planning regulations but this will depend to some extent on the length of the time involved. An important corollary to the above is that if the premises are not intended to be used for one or more licensable activities during a period of 96 hours or more in total and by 500 people or more at any one time, you may give to the licensing authority and separately to the police a temporary event notice in a prescribed form at least ten days in advance. If no counter notice by the licensing authority - which must adopt certain procedures if there is objection by the police - is given within the prescribed time, or if any such counter notice is later withdrawn, then the licensable activity may proceed without a formal licence. However, the nature of the premises you have described may be such as to induce reasonable opposition from the authorities so as to render this route impracticable.

Needless to say, any default in compliance with the above may constitute a statutory offence and may involve you in civil liability to any member of the audience and/or production personnel who is injured or sustains loss by reason of your default.

Applications for entertainment licences and liquor licences and club premises certificates and temporary event notices are made to the local authority in the area where the premises are situated. Such authorities have a very wide discretion to grant or not to grant applications for licences and to impose such conditions and restrictions as they think fit, so long as not relating to the content or manner of performance (unless necessary for public safety).

A number of authorities have standard conditions for theatre licences relating to management matters, opening hours, conduct of the premises, state and condition and layout of the premises, safety and fire precautions. Some of these conditions will also relate to matters such as safety curtains, storage of scenery and props, signage and so forth. If your audience or production personnel are expected to use a lift or lifts in the disused tower block, those lifts will need to be inspected to ensure they are safe and in good working order and any necessary maintenance work carried out on them.

Since the tower block is disused and obviously a large empty building, you will need to devote careful attention to security so long as the premises are being used for your production, even when not open to the public.

All in all, you are faced with a formidable series of obstacles and I think the best advice I can give you in the circumstances is to make an appointment to discuss the project with an appropriate official in the licensing department of the local authority in the area, to enable you to assess the practicality and likely cost of proceeding any further.

As to whether you will get insurance cover, I am rather doubtful but it will obviously depend on the extent to which you are able to comply with the various statutory requirements to which I have referred. As to the extent of insurance cover which is desirable, please refer to my Legal Eagle issues of February 5 and April 1, 2004.

For all the above reasons, I fear you may find you have bitten off more than you can chew and may be best advised to leave well alone so far as performances in a disused tower block are concerned, although without more information I cannot evaluate further the practicality of your proposal, or do more than draw your attention to the matters which require to be addressed and which, for all I know, may turn out not be insurmountable.

First published 24th June 2004