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Can You Trade a Mobile Bar on a Premises Licence?

by NM
(UK)

Teal converted vintage caravan mobile bar at a UK summer events field

Teal converted vintage caravan mobile bar at a UK summer events field

I have been trawling through pages of what I thought would be helpful information on the government websites, citizens advice bureau, but it just gets more and more confusing. Can anyone tell me if I get a Premises Licence, would I be able to take my bar anywhere and trade from it? I know there are Temporary Events Notices, however, this limits how long I can be somewhere and how many people can be at the event. How do you get around this? Is the Premises Licence the answer?

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Aug 26, 2026
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by: MobCater

It's a genuinely confusing area, so don't feel bad for going round in circles on the government pages. The short answer is that a Premises Licence won't let you take your bar wherever you like. A Premises Licence is tied to one specific, named location, the premises it's granted for, so it authorises alcohol sales at that address and nowhere else. It's ideal if you run a fixed bar or you always trade from the same yard or unit, but it does nothing for you the moment you move down the road to a different field or car park.

That's exactly why Temporary Event Notices exist, and you're right that they come with limits. A TEN covers a single event at a single place for a short spell, and the headcount has to stay under 500 at any one time. The bit most people miss is the yearly cap, and this is where becoming a personal licence holder changes everything. Without a personal licence you can only give five TENs in a calendar year, which is no good for a working mobile bar. Get your personal licence and that jumps to fifty a year, which is enough to run a proper events season.

So the honest way round it isn't one magic licence, it's a combination. Most mobile bar operators I know get their personal licence sorted first, by doing the Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders and applying to their council, then they use TENs for the smaller private jobs. For the bigger events, weddings at a licensed venue, festivals, racecourses, you often don't need your own paperwork at all, because the venue or organiser already holds a premises licence and you simply trade under theirs. A lot of bar hire work is done exactly that way.

One tip from experience: always sort the licensing before you take the booking, not after. TENs have notice deadlines, and a late one can sink the job.

Just so you know, licensing sits with your council's licensing team rather than the EHO, and Scotland runs a different system with occasional licences, so check locally.

Best wishes

David

Disclaimer: This is general advice for UK mobile catering. Licensing rules vary between councils, so always check with your local authority before you start trading.

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