UK business licensing data

Search licensed premises

The largest free searchable licence database in the UK: 173,804 premises licences and club certificates in force, from 248 councils' licensing registers. New applications are checked every day.*

Try SohoCornwallAlcohol after midnightOpen for comments

Premises licence

Corner Stores

Status
In force
Alcohol
Off the premises
Hours
08:00 to 23:00
Food hygiene
5, very good

Connected data

Linked to planning and more

Every licence is matched to the planning applications at the same address, any committee decision on them, and the other licences there. You can see it all on the site, get it in your alerts, or pull it through our API or as a CSV.

Joined with

  • Planning applications
  • Committee decisions
  • Food hygiene ratings
  • Other licences at the address
  • Company holders
  • Addresses and UPRNs

Delivered to

Integrations

Integrate the data into your existing tools

Each guide shows how to get our data into that tool, through the API or without writing code.

See all integration guides

Who uses it

Property, planning and licensing in one place

Planning applications, committee decisions and constraints from 390 councils, plus 173,804 premises licences and 165,973 licensed HMOs. Every licence is linked to the planning history at its address.

  • Pub and restaurant groups

    Find sites, and see which places nearby are asking to sell alcohol later.

    Later hours applied for

  • Brewers and drinks suppliers

    A new premises licence is a new place that might buy from you. Get them by email as they come in.

    Set up an alert

  • Commercial agents and landlords

    Check a unit's licence and its planning history before you let or sell it.

    Search planning history

  • Licensing solicitors and consultants

    See which applications are open for comments, when comments close and what the council decided.

    Open for comments

  • Convenience and retail chains

    See where other shops are applying to sell alcohol to take away.

    Off-sales applications

  • Investors and lenders

    Check what a site is licensed for and what has been applied for before you commit.

    Use the API

Alerts when a licence changes, in the same digest as planning

Follow an application for its decision, a hearing and any amendment. Get a reminder 7, 3 and 1 days before comments close and on the day. Set an area alert for new applications and later hours, or watch a portfolio of premises or a company. Licensing arrives in the same alerts and digest as planning.

Set up an alert

New licence applications in Manchester8:00 AM
New licence applications in your saved area, Manchester, beside the day's planning applications.
Comments close 22 Oct 2026PR202610-1795708
Dakota Hotel Manchester AirportPremises Licence · 7 Enterprise Way, Manchester
Comments close 5 Nov 2026PR202610-1795652
NamployPremises Licence · 36 Bridge Street, Manchester
Comments close 22 Oct 2026PR202610-1795606
Sainsbury'sPremises Licence · 51 Whitworth Street, West
Daily digest · planning and licensing togetherView all in Plota

What's new around your home, planning and licensing together

My Home lists licence applications and changes within 300 metres of your home beside the planning ones, with a Planning, Licensing or All filter. Each shows how far away it is, its status, the day comments close and what is changing.

Open My Home

What's new around your homeRoyal Festival Hall South Bank London, SE1
  1. Unit 9 2 m away · PremisesAwaiting a decision
  2. The Thirsty Farrier 2 m away · PremisesAwaiting a decision
  3. Unit 6 2 m away · PremisesAwaiting a decision
  4. Polish Deli 2 m away · PremisesComments close 29 Oct 2026

New licence applicationscouncil by council, last 12 months

4,194 new licence applications in the 12 months to 18 October 2026, at the 146 councils whose registers list applications. Manchester received the most: 701.

0204 or more

Each dot is a council.

Most new applications
CouncilNewLater hours
Manchester70115
Havant3880
Westminster204Not given
Hammersmith and Fulham15314
Wandsworth1143
Lambeth10920
Islington10716
Harrow872

Later hours: applications to sell alcohol after 23:00, where the application gives its hours. Each name opens that council's new applications.

Every new application on the map

Alcohol sales after midnightcouncil by council

31.8% of licensed premises selling alcohol may sell it after midnight. The share runs from 2.4% to 68.6% across 155 councils. These are the hours each licence permits; a place may close earlier. Hours known for 78,953 of 89,164 premises.

0%69%

Each dot is a council.

Most premises licensed after midnight
CouncilAfter midnightHours known
Shropshire68.6%172
Cherwell60.2%113
Blackpool57.6%776
Angus57.1%268
Perth56%518
North Ayrshire49.8%333
Renfrewshire49.4%340
Stirling49.1%332

Councils whose register gives the hours of at least 30 premises selling alcohol. Each name opens that council's premises licensed after midnight.

Late hours on the map

Licensed premises on one map, from a city down to its street

Midnight or earlier1am2am3amPast 3am
Alcohol sales permitted until, Glasgow: 1,906 premises whose register gives the hours
OpenDecided or on the register
New licence applications in Manchester, last 12 months: 667 placed on the map

The same records through the API for your database, CRM or GIS

Licensed premises, licence applications and each licence's history, by council, postcode, radius or box, with the map's filters, and a feed of changes since a date. A cursor pages through a whole register.

The MCP server gives the same records to assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT. No personal details are served.

Get an API keyRead the documentation
1importrequests23r = requests.get(4"https://api.plota.co.uk/v1/licensed-premises",5params={"council":"glasgow","activity":"alcohol","total":1},6headers={"Authorization":"Bearer plota_..."},7)8data = r.json()9print(data["meta"]["total"],"licences")10forlicindata["data"][:3]:11print(lic["premises_name"], lic["postcode"])
zsh
$ python licensed_premises.py1,864 licences10 O'Clock Shop G15 6UQ1051 GWR G12 0XP111 by Modou G12 0JU

Councils and their licensed premises

  1. CornwallEngland 3,311 licensed premises
  2. WestminsterEngland 3,089 licensed premises
  3. LiverpoolEngland 3,023 licensed premises
  4. BirminghamEngland 2,828 licensed premises
  5. ManchesterEngland 2,332 licensed premises
  6. BradfordEngland 2,108 licensed premises
  7. WiltshireEngland 1,990 licensed premises
  8. EdinburghScotland 1,965 licensed premises
  9. DurhamEngland 1,885 licensed premises
  10. GlasgowScotland 1,865 licensed premises
  11. CamdenEngland 1,862 licensed premises
  12. SheffieldEngland 1,821 licensed premises

* How we count. The headline count is the premises licences and club premises certificates in force on the councils' public licensing registers. Each council's figure below counts the places with one in force, each place once. New applications are checked every day and each whole register every week. On 10 October 2026 the largest other free searchable source we know of listed 160,383; today we hold 173,804. Gambling, pavement, street trading, animal, scrap metal, sex establishment and private hire licences are on the map as filters, and event notices are never counted. Part of the register means a council's register is read in part; its page says which part. Council crests are each council's own.

Questions

What is licensing?

It is a permission from the council that a business needs as well as planning permission. Planning covers the building and what it is used for. A licence covers what happens inside: selling alcohol, serving hot food after 11pm, or putting on music, dancing or films, and until what time. So a new pub or restaurant usually needs both, and a licence application works a lot like an extra planning application for the business: people nearby can comment on it, and the council's licensing committee decides (in Scotland, the licensing board).

Where does the licensing data come from?

From each council's public licensing register. New applications are checked every day and each whole register every week. A council whose register we have not read yet is listed by name, without a count.

Are the hours opening hours?

They are the hours the licence permits: the latest alcohol may be sold or an activity may take place. A premises can close earlier. Where a register gives no hours, the late filter cannot count the record either way, and says how many records it can see.

Does an application mean a place is opening?

An application is a request to the council, which may be refused or withdrawn. A transfer moves a licence to a new holder, often within the same business. A licence that leaves a register may have lapsed, been surrendered or moved to a new reference.

Are names shown?

No personal details are shown: a holder who is a person is never named, and nor is the designated premises supervisor.

Which licences are covered?

Premises licences and club premises certificates under the Licensing Act 2003, and the gambling, pavement, street trading, animal, scrap metal, sex establishment and private hire operator licences councils list beside them. Temporary event notices appear when you choose them in Filters.

Is it the largest free licence database?

It holds 173,804 premises licences and club certificates in force. On 10 October 2026 the largest other free searchable source we know of listed 160,383.

Is it free?

Searching, the map and each record's page are free and need no account. The API has a free trial key and paid plans.