Does a restaurant need a premises licence?

Only for licensable activities: selling alcohol, putting on regulated entertainment, or serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am. A café that does none of these needs no premises licence, though it must still register as a food business at least 28 days before it trades.

Which needs planning permission: a restaurant or a bar?

In England a restaurant sits in Class E with shops and cafés, so a shop becoming a restaurant needs no permission for the change of use. A bar, pub or hot food takeaway is outside the use classes, so a change to one of those does. Building work that materially changes the outside, such as a new shopfront or an extraction flue, usually needs permission either way.

How long does each take?

A premises licence cannot be granted until 28 days after the council receives the application, and an application that draws objections goes to a hearing that must begin within 20 working days after that. A planning decision is due within 8 weeks for most applications, or 13 weeks for major development, unless the council and the applicant agree a longer period in writing.

Blog / 4 min

Licensing or planning: which comes first when a new venue opens?

Whether a new bar or restaurant needs its licence or its planning permission first, how the two interact, and what that means for a supplier.

By Oliver Stocks-Fryer · Published 12 November 2026

Short answer

Neither has to come first. Licensing and planning are separate regimes: a licence does not remove the need for planning permission, and neither committee is bound by the other’s decision. Where planning permission has been or will be applied for, the Home Office guidance asks licensing officers to consider talking to their planning colleagues before deciding. If the two set different closing times, the venue must close at the earlier one.

A new bar or restaurant can need two permissions from the same council: a premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003, and planning permission for the use of the building or the work done to it. They are applied for separately, decided by different committees and run to different timetables.

How the two fit together

Question	What the Home Office guidance says
Are they separate?	Yes. The planning and licensing regimes consider different, though related, matters (paragraph 14.66).
Is one bound by the other?	No. Licensing committees are not bound by decisions made by a planning committee, and vice versa (paragraph 14.66).
Does a licence replace planning permission?	No. A licence or a variation does not exempt the applicant from planning permission or building control approval where they are needed (paragraphs 8.98 and 9.42).
Can the planning department comment on a licence?	Yes. The local planning authority is a responsible authority and can make representations on a licence application (paragraph 8.8).
What if the closing times differ?	Where a planning condition sets an earlier closing time than the licence, the venue must keep to the earlier one (paragraph 14.67).

Is there a right order?

The guidance sets none. It does say that where an applicant has applied for planning permission, or means to, licensing committees and officers should consider talking to their planning counterparts before deciding, to agree operating hours and scheme designs both can accept (paragraph 9.46).

Not every venue needs both. In England a shop can become a café or restaurant without planning permission for the use, because both sit in Class E, while a change to a bar, pub or hot food takeaway does need it. A venue that sells alcohol needs a premises licence whatever the planning position.

What it means for a supplier

Watch both registers. A planning application for a change of use, an extraction flue or a shopfront can appear before or after the licence application.
Match them by address. A planning application and a licence application at the same postcode show one opening, from the building work to the first day of trading. Where CiviFlow collects both, each record shows the other.
Read the hours on both. The earlier closing time is the one the venue has to keep.

Questions

Does a restaurant need a premises licence?: Only for licensable activities: selling alcohol, putting on regulated entertainment, or serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am. A café that does none of these needs no premises licence, though it must still register as a food business at least 28 days before it trades.
Which needs planning permission: a restaurant or a bar?: In England a restaurant sits in Class E with shops and cafés, so a shop becoming a restaurant needs no permission for the change of use. A bar, pub or hot food takeaway is outside the use classes, so a change to one of those does. Building work that materially changes the outside, such as a new shopfront or an extraction flue, usually needs permission either way.
How long does each take?: A premises licence cannot be granted until 28 days after the council receives the application, and an application that draws objections goes to a hearing that must begin within 20 working days after that. A planning decision is due within 8 weeks for most applications, or 13 weeks for major development, unless the council and the applicant agree a longer period in writing.

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.