Are premises licence applications public?

Yes. A new application or a full variation must be advertised with a notice at the premises for 28 consecutive days and in a local newspaper, and councils keep a public register. Transfers and minor changes need no newspaper notice, so they appear only on the council’s register.

Does every new restaurant need planning permission?

No. In England, shops, cafés and restaurants have shared one use class, Class E, since 1 September 2020, so a shop can become a restaurant without an application for the change of use. Bars, pubs and hot food takeaways sit outside the use classes and do need permission, and building work that materially changes the outside, such as an extraction flue or a new shopfront, usually needs it too.

Can I email a new venue to offer my services?

If the venue is run by a company, the PECR rule on marketing emails does not apply, though the UK GDPR still applies to a named person’s details. A sole trader is treated as an individual, so you generally need their consent. Calls must not go to numbers on the TPS or CTPS unless the business has agreed. This summarises the ICO’s guidance and is not legal advice.

How soon after the licence application will the venue open?

There is no fixed answer. The council cannot grant the licence until the 28 days for comments have passed, and an application that draws objections goes to a hearing, which must begin within 20 working days after that. The fit-out, staff and stock come on top, so the application, not the opening, is the time to make contact.

Blog / 5 min

How to find restaurant and bar fit-out work before it goes out to tender

The public applications a new bar, restaurant or takeaway makes before it opens, where to find them, and how a fit-out firm can use them.

By Oliver Stocks-Fryer · Published 12 November 2026

Short answer

Watch the applications a new venue has to make in public. A bar, a restaurant that serves alcohol or a late-night takeaway applies to its council for a premises licence, and many also apply for planning permission for a change of use, a shopfront or an extraction flue. The licence application is public for 28 days before the council can grant it, and a venue cannot sell alcohol until it holds one. Look the applicant up on Companies House, then contact the business while it is still choosing who does the work.

By the time a new bar or restaurant opens, the floor is down and the till is in. The work went to whoever heard about it first. The earliest public signs that a venue is coming are the applications its operator has to make, and anyone can read them.

Three public signs that a venue is coming

Sign	Where it is published	What it tells you
Planning application	The council’s planning register, and a site notice or a letter to neighbours	A building changing use or appearance: a new bar or takeaway, an extraction flue, a new shopfront or signs
Premises licence application	The council’s licensing register, a blue notice at the premises and an advert in a local newspaper	A venue that will sell alcohol, put on entertainment or serve hot food late at night
A new company	Companies House	Who is behind the venue, when the company was formed and where it is registered

How to work through them

Pick your area: the councils you can reach from your yard or office.
Check each council’s licensing register for new applications and full variations. Most can be searched by type and date. Newspaper notices are also gathered on the Public Notice Portal, which has a postcode search.
Check the planning register for changes of use to a bar, pub or takeaway, and for extraction flues and shopfronts. In England a shop becoming a café or restaurant usually needs no application for the use, so watch for the works instead.
Look up each company applicant on Companies House. A company formed in the last few months and registered at the premises is very likely a new operator, setting everything up for the first time.
Contact the business, not the individual, and follow the marketing rules: a company and a sole trader are treated differently.

Doing it yourself, or paying for a list

Everything above is free. What it costs is time. Every council keeps its own register, each is laid out differently, and new applications have to be picked out from changes of manager and other minor ones. A handful of councils a week is manageable by hand. Forty is a job.

CiviFlow is that job done for you. We collect the applications from the councils we cover, keep the new applications, full variations and transfers, match each company to Companies House and send the list every Monday at 7am. It costs £19 a month for up to 6 councils, excluding VAT.

Get a free sample for a council we cover

Questions

Are premises licence applications public?: Yes. A new application or a full variation must be advertised with a notice at the premises for 28 consecutive days and in a local newspaper, and councils keep a public register. Transfers and minor changes need no newspaper notice, so they appear only on the council’s register.
Does every new restaurant need planning permission?: No. In England, shops, cafés and restaurants have shared one use class, Class E, since 1 September 2020, so a shop can become a restaurant without an application for the change of use. Bars, pubs and hot food takeaways sit outside the use classes and do need permission, and building work that materially changes the outside, such as an extraction flue or a new shopfront, usually needs it too.
Can I email a new venue to offer my services?: If the venue is run by a company, the PECR rule on marketing emails does not apply, though the UK GDPR still applies to a named person’s details. A sole trader is treated as an individual, so you generally need their consent. Calls must not go to numbers on the TPS or CTPS unless the business has agreed. This summarises the ICO’s guidance and is not legal advice.
How soon after the licence application will the venue open?: There is no fixed answer. The council cannot grant the licence until the 28 days for comments have passed, and an application that draws objections goes to a hearing, which must begin within 20 working days after that. The fit-out, staff and stock come on top, so the application, not the opening, is the time to make contact.

Written by

Oliver Stocks-Fryer, Founder of CiviFlow

Oliver’s background is in commercial contract flooring and finance. CiviFlow comes from that work: on the supply side of a fit-out, the jobs you win are the ones you hear about early.