Are you thinking of having a street or private party?

Let’s look at what you need to consider. Traditional street parties, often require the residential street to be closed to traffic and permission is needed from your local authority to do this. We would always recommend engaging the local authority early to avoid disappointment as there are rules about the kind of streets that can be closed.

There are often restrictions to prevent commercial enterprises from operating as part of a street party, so you will need to check with your local council to see what rules they are adopting.

Do check with your local authority/council as we believe some are waiving any fees associated with street parties for national events, e.g. the queen’s jubilee weekend.

If you provide alcoholic drinks to attendees of the event without charging them, you don’t need a license. However, suppose you are setting up a temporary bar or otherwise to sell alcohol, in that case, you’ll need a Temporary Events Notice (TEN), and this, at today’s prices, costs £21. You can apply for one of these via your local authority – Temporary Events Notice (England and Wales) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Food can be served and sold up to 11:00 PM without a license. However, if you want to serve or sell after 11:00 PM, this should be included in a TEN application.

In terms of music for your street party, you don’t need a music license as long as your street party is a private party for residents and you haven’t advertised the music to make money or attract people. However, you will want to make sure that you have a positive engagement from the people likely to be affected to minimise the risk of complaints.