Apply for a personal licence

You or a member of your staff need a personal license to:

• sell alcohol from a licensed premises
• authorise the sale or supply of alcohol in a licensed premises.

You don’t need a personal license to sell alcohol under a temporary event notice.

You must apply to us for a license if you live in Torbay, even if you don’t currently work in Torbay. If you live outside of Torbay, please apply to the Local Authority where you live.

Who can apply

To hold a personal licence, you must:

• be 18 years old or older
• have the right to work in the UK 
• have an accredited licensing qualification

Fees

The fee for a new personal licence is £37.

The fee to update or request a replacement licence is £10.50.

The fee is paid when submitting the application.

How to apply for a personal licence

You will need to include:

1. Your licensing qualification

You need to upload a scan of your qualification with your application.

You do not need to upload your qualification if you can prove that you are:

• a Master Vintner
• licensed by the Board of Green Cloth or
• licensed by the University of Cambridge

2. Completed disclosure of convictions form

You need to tell us if you have had a personal licence revoked and if you have any relevant offences or immigration penalties.

3. A Basic Check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

This needs to be less than one month old.

Request a basic DBS check on GOV.UK.

4. Right to work documents

You must include proof of your right to work in the UK.

View the right to work guidance on GOV.UK.

5. One photograph of yourself and an endorsement form

You must submit:

• one photograph of yourself which has been endorsed as a true likeness
• a photograph endorsement form.  

See our photograph guidance and download an endorsement form.

Apply online

Once you have gathered all your documents, you will need to register or log in to our customer portal to apply online. 

If you have already started an application and need to complete it, log in to My Torbay and choose ‘pending forms’ from the menu.

What happens next

Objections

The Chief Officer of Police may object to your application if you have a criminal conviction. If there is an objection, we will let you know. We will then hold a hearing to consider the objection.

Renewals

Once you have received your personal licence it does not expire. You do not need to renew it.

Update or replace a lost licence

If you already have a personal licence and you change your name or address, you need to tell us. If you have lost your personal licence, you can request a replacement.

We can only update or replace your licence if we issued it.

How to apply to update or replace a licence

To change your name, you will need to include a name change document.

Once you have gathered this, you will need to register or log in to our customer portal to apply online.