The Licensing Act 2003 provides a mechanism for a “responsible authority” or any other person, business or body to ask for Premises Licences or Club Premises Certificates to be reviewed.
Before requesting a review, it is considered appropriate that the above should give licence holders sufficient warning of any concerns that they may have with regard to problems identified at the premises and the need for improvement. We would expect licence holders to respond to such warnings and implement the necessary remedial action. A failure to respond to such warnings could then lead to a decision by the above to request a review of the Licence/Certificate.
LICENSING ACT 2003
NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR THE SUMMARY REVIEW OF A
PREMISES LICENCE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT an application to review the Licence for the below mentioned premises has been made pursuant to Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003:
Seaforth Arms Hotel
26-30 Seaforth Road
Liverpool L21 3TA
Merseyside Police state that the operation and use of this premises is seriously undermining the Licensing Objectives of Prevention of Crime and Disorder and Public Safety, resulting in serious crime and serious disorder.
The grounds of the application for the review being at 03:50 hrs on Sunday 21st September 2025, Merseyside Police received a call that a group had spilled out of the Seaforth Arms Public House and a subsequent brawl had occurred with a group of females. One is allegedly heard to call out to “Get the lads” and a short time later a group of males arrive, throwing bottles at people and armed with metal poles that they subsequently used to assault four people.
A number of people suffered head injuries, some seriously, and required hospital treatment. One person remained sedated after the incident. One victim being 16 years old and another 17. One of the arrested parties was 15 years of age.
Some of the parties involved have links to a local organised crime group.
CCTV from the pub shows the premises full of customers until 03.30 hours, including the minors. There was drinking, smoking and Police Officers believe smoking cannabis and vaping, likely vaping drugs.
The last sale of alcohol is captured on CCTV at 03.16 hours.
The initial violence begins in the pub, and quickly spills into the street with nearly everyone going outside to either see what is happening or to join in.
The DPS is not present. CCTV shows a ‘free for all’ with at least six different people behind the bar.
The premises is licensed to sell alcohol until 01.00 hours on the night in question with public hours opening until 02.00. Had the premises closed at the correct time, this incident may never had occurred.
There is a risk that there will be further acts of retaliation in response to these incidents or that further acts of violence will occur at the premises.
The timescales involved in a standard review would not address the Police concerns in relation to the threat to Public Safety at these premises quickly enough, given the serious nature of the allegations and any further risk at the location to Public Safety.
This application can be inspected in person at the below postal address (weekdays 09.00 to 15.00 by appointment).
Any representations, from interested parties or responsible authorities, shall be in writing and should be lodged with the Licensing Authority, Licensing Unit, Sefton MBC, Magdalen House, 30 Trinity Road, Bootle, L20 3NJ, stating the terms of the grounds of the said representation, not later than 7 October 2025.
It is an offence knowingly or recklessly to make a false statement in connection with an application. A person is liable to an unlimited fine on conviction should such a false statement be made.
Dated: 24 September 2025
The review is a request for us to look at the existing Licence/Certificate and decide whether its conditions are adequate to meet the four licensing objectives defined under the Act.
This mechanism is in place as any Licence/Certificate issued under the Act (unless the applicant requests otherwise) will last for the lifetime of the business and would not otherwise be subject to renewal.
Advice received from the Government states that “save in very exceptional circumstances, licensing reviews applied for immediately after a licence or certificate has been granted are likely to be considered vexatious and it is also doubtful that they could be argued successfully to be “relevant” (if the premises has hardly been in operation under the licence). For a review application to be successful, there would need to have been some form of problem in connection with one or more of the licensing objectives that has arisen since the licence or certificate was granted and given effect. We would therefore suggest that there would need to be some period of operation before a viable review might be sought”
You can only seek a review if:
- Your request relates to the failure of the business to address one or more of the four licensing objectives;
- Your request is not frivolous, repetitious or vexatious.
Frivolous
A frivolous complaint is one so trivial it would be unreasonable to consider it.
For example, a pub may have run without any problems for ten years, but on New Years Eve have a noisy party ending at 1.00am. No other noise has occurred before, or since, that time. We would probably consider a request for a review to be frivolous on this occasion, as it concerned a one off event on a night of the year when it would be normal to expect a certain degree of noise nuisance.
Vexatious
A complaint is vexatious if it is not genuine and is made as a result of a dispute between neighbouring residents and businesses. Council officers will make their own observations to establish whether complaints are being made for vexatious reasons.
Repetitious
A complaint is defined as repetitious under the Act if:
It is identical, or substantially similar to:
- A ground for review that has already been considered by us; or
- A representation made by a responsible authority or any person, business or body to the grant of a Premise Licence or Club Premise Certificate; or
- A representation about a provisional statement which was excluded; and
- A reasonable interval has not elapsed since that earlier time.
We will decide what a “reasonable interval” is, depending on the circumstances of the case.
However, Government guidance says the minimum period between reviews should be at least twelve months in any case, unless there are particularly compelling circumstances.
An application form for the review of a Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate can be downloaded free from the Sefton Council Website.
Complete the form carefully, providing as much detail as possible to support your application.
Send the original to us and send a copy of it to:
- The premises licence holder or the club.
- Each of the responsible authorities
You should also keep a copy for your records
No.
This is forbidden under the Act.
We will consider the application; in respect of any person, business or body not a responsible authority, if the grounds for review are considered frivolous, vexatious or repetitious, or have already been considered we can refuse to review the Licence/Certificate.
If we decide to reject your application for review, we will write to you and explain our decision and our reasons for it. If you are unhappy with a decision you may apply to the High Court for a judicial review of our decision.
We will arrange to advertise that the Licence/Certificate is to be reviewed (both on the premises, at Southport and Bootle Town Hall and on the website); other persons, businesses or bodies and responsible authorities will then have 28 days to make any representations.
At the end of that period, within 20 working days, a hearing is held before a licensing sub-committee to consider any representations. You, the licence holder(s) and any other people making representations will be invited to attend.
At the Hearing you will only be allowed to comment on the matters raised in your request for a review, or to amplify them. You will not be permitted to bring extra evidence to the meeting, or raise any other issues other than those referred to you in your application.
FOR PREMISES LICENCES, THE SUB-COMMITTEE CAN:
- Modify the conditions of the licence
- Exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence
- Remove the designated premises supervisor
- Suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months
- Revoke the licence
- Any or none of the above
FOR CLUB CERTIFICATES, THE SUB-COMMITTEE CAN:
- Modify the conditions of the certificate
- Exclude a qualifying club activity from the scope of the certificate
- Suspend the certificate for a period not exceeding three months
- Withdraw the certificate
- Any or none of the above
Decisions made by the sub-committee can be appealed against.
Any decision taken at the hearing will not take effect until the period within which an appeal can be brought has passed (21 days), or until the determination of such an appeal