Temporary Events Notices (TEN)

Eligibility and criteria

A Temporary Event Notice (TEN) is required for any event that lasts for less than 168 hours (seven days), where alcohol will be sold or supplied or entertainment provided.

You'll also need a TEN if hot food and/or hot drink is to be sold between 11pm and 5am.

A temporary event notice does not give you permission to use the land or premises on which the event is to take place. This must be obtained separately from the landlord. If you wish to hold an event in a council-managed park, town square, open or outdoor space, you should first obtain permission to hire a park or open space.

Legislation summary

View the Licensing Act 2003.

When you need a TEN

You'll need to give notice if:

• your event lasts for less than 168 hours (or 7 days) where alcohol will be sold or supplied, or entertainment provided
• you plan to sell hot food and/or hot drink between 11pm and 5am hours
• a TEN straddles two days across midnight (for example, from 11pm to 2am the next day), it uses 2 days of the day entitlement for TENs

Your event must involve no more than 499 people at any one time (including organisers, stewards, performers etc as well as audience and spectators) and last no more than 168 hours with a minimum of 24 hours between events.

How many notices you can apply for

The application must be submitted at least 10 working days (this doesn't include the day you submitted the application nor the date of the TENs or weekends and bank holidays) before the date of the event excluding the date of the event.

From 01 January 2024, the number of times a premises can submit a notice for a TEN is 15, and they're able to apply for a maximum of 21 days in each calendar year.

There must be a gap of 24 hours between TENs.

If you hold a personal licence

A personal licence holder may have a maximum of 50 TENs per calendar year. A personal licence holder may submit 10 late TENs in a calendar year.

If you do not have a personal licence

A person who does not have a personal licence may have a maximum of five TENs in each calendar year. A non-personal licence holder may submit two late TENs. 

Page last updated: 29 December 2023