Late hours catering licence renewal
Your licence to serve hot food or drink to the public after 11pm in Scotland runs for a fixed period set by your council — treat it as annual unless your own licence confirms a longer term — and has to be renewed with a fresh application, including a new public notice at the premises.
Scotland only
Your licence to serve hot food or drink to the public after 11pm in Scotland runs for a fixed period set by your council — treat it as annual unless your own licence confirms a longer term — and has to be renewed with a fresh application, including a new public notice at the premises.
Continuing to serve food late once the licence has lapsed is trading without authorisation, exactly as if you had never applied. It is easy for a council or the police to spot — it is simply a question of who is still open after 11pm.
A renewal is a new application with its own public notice period — start it before the current licence expires, not after.
Who this is for
Any Scottish venue with a late hours catering licence that continues to trade past 11pm.
What you’ll hold
- Renewed late hours catering licence
- Public notice displayed at the premises from the day of the renewal application
Watch out for
- Waiting for a reminder from the council. Most do not chase — the renewal date sits on the certificate you were given, not in a diary anyone else keeps.
- Underestimating processing time on a renewal, assuming it will be quicker than the original application. It often is not, especially if the public notice period runs afresh.
- Missing the public notice requirement on renewal, thinking it only applied to the first application — it applies every time.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Late hours catering licence (Scotland) checked 2026-09-02
See also
- Late hours catering licence— this becomes part of getting open →
This is item 31 of 60 in the free UK Compliance Calendar. See the whole list →