In licensed premises the lease is the smallest part of what you are taking on. The premises licence, the rating assessment and, from spring 2027, Martyn’s Law decide whether a site works. Two of those changed in the last few months, and a rent negotiated on last year’s arithmetic is the wrong rent.
Hours, capacity, and every condition on the operating schedule. A premises licence is not permission to trade how you like — the conditions are where a site is quietly restricted.
Pub rateable values rose around 30 per cent on average in April 2026. We give you the current assessment and a real bill, not last year’s figure.
Security of tenure or contracted out, the repairing obligation, rent review basis, break rights, and whether the site is tied or free of tie.
Our fee is paid by the landlord. No introduction fee and no percentage of your turnover.
Wet-led, food-led or late night. The hours you need decide which sites are possible at all, and it is quicker to rule sites out at this stage than after a licence application.
Premises licence and conditions, review history, current rateable value, planning use class and the lease terms. Including the sites we think will not work for you, and why.
Heads of terms, then the variation or transfer route if your concept needs one, with a realistic view of what the responsible authorities are likely to say.
A premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 attaches to the premises rather than the person, and it transfers — but only if the application is made properly and the designated premises supervisor is in place. Alcohol sales require a DPS holding a personal licence, and that is a separate application on its own timetable.
Read the whole licence, not the headline hours. The conditions on the operating schedule are where sites are restricted: capacity limits, door supervision requirements, last entry times, restrictions on external areas, noise limiters, and sometimes conditions imposed after a past review. A licence that reads well until 11pm and then imposes a hard capacity of 90 people is a different business from the one in the particulars.
The 2026 revaluation hit licensed premises harder than most property. Rateable values for public houses and pub restaurants rose by around 30 per cent on average, and by around 70 per cent where the property includes lodging, against an average of 19.4 per cent across all property in England.
The single multiplier was also replaced by five. For most licensed premises the relevant rates are 38.2p below a £51,000 rateable value, 43p from £51,000 to £499,999, and 50.8p above £500,000. Those are lower than the 2025/26 multiplier, but not by enough to offset the removal of the 40 per cent retail, hospitality and leisure discount. Additional relief of 15 per cent was announced for 2026/27, with a further 20 per cent from 2027/28 and bill caps beyond that.
The practical point is simple: get the current rateable value from the 2026 list and calculate the actual liability before you agree a rent. Rates and rent are the same money out of the same till.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 and becomes enforceable in spring 2027 after a 24-month implementation period. If you are signing a lease now, it lands inside the term.
Drinking establishments sit outside the main use classes as sui generis, so a change of use into or out of one needs planning permission in its own right. A vacant retail unit is not a bar waiting to happen, and a site that has traded as a pub for a century can still have a planning problem if the use lapsed or the layout changed.
The agent of change principle works in your favour where new residential development arrives next to an established venue — the incoming developer carries the mitigation burden. That protection is worth considerably more when your licence and planning history are clean, which is another reason to read the review history before you commit.
Whether you have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 or the lease is contracted out is the single most valuable term in the document, because it decides whether you own the goodwill you spend three years building. After that: the repairing obligation, since full repairing and insuring on a Victorian pub is a very different liability from a modern shell; the rent review basis; break rights; and if the site is tied, what the tie actually costs you against the rent discount it buys.
It attaches to the premises rather than the seller, so in that sense yes — but it does not move to you automatically. A transfer application is required, and alcohol sales need a designated premises supervisor holding a personal licence, which is a separate application again. Neither is difficult, but both take time and neither should be assumed on the day you open.
The 2026 revaluation. Rateable values for pubs and pub restaurants rose by around 30 per cent on average, and by roughly 70 per cent where there is lodging, against 19.4 per cent across all property. The 40 per cent retail, hospitality and leisure discount also ended, and the new lower multipliers do not fully replace it. Work from the current list before you agree a rent, not from what the outgoing tenant was paying two years ago.
If your capacity including staff reaches 200, yes — at standard tier, meaning you notify the SIA and put public protection procedures in place, with no requirement for physical measures. At 800 and above you are in the enhanced tier, which adds physical security, a designated responsible individual and documented procedures. It becomes enforceable in spring 2027, which is inside the term of any lease you sign now.
Sometimes. A variation application is open to you, but it invites representations from the police, environmental health and local residents, and in a cumulative impact area there is a presumption against granting it. Treat the existing hours as what you are buying. If your concept only works at 2am and the licence says midnight, that is a reason to look at a different site rather than a problem to solve later.
No. Our fee is paid by the landlord. What that buys you is someone reading the licence conditions and the rating assessment properly, and telling you when a site cannot support the concept you have in mind.
