Mayor of London gains power over major venue licences

If you have ever looked at a licensing notice in a pub window and wondered who actually decides these things, this change matters. According to the Statutory Instrument published on legislation.gov.uk, new regulations made on 12 October 2026 and laid before Parliament on 13 October will come into force on 3 November 2026. They sit under the Licensing Act 2003 and give the Mayor of London a formal route to step into some bigger licensing cases. In plain English, this is about who gets to make the final call when a venue application could matter beyond one borough. Most licensing decisions still begin with the local council. But for a smaller group of applications judged to be of "potential strategic importance" to Greater London, the Greater London Authority, and in some cases the Mayor, can now become part of the process in a much more direct way.

That phrase, "applications of potential strategic importance", sounds more mysterious than it really is. It does not mean every licence application in London. It is a legal label for applications that are bigger, later, louder, more temporary, or more likely to matter to the wider city rather than just one street. **What this means:** if you run a very large venue, want late-night permissions, are planning a major temporary event, or are applying for live music permissions at certain premises, your application may now attract City Hall scrutiny as well as borough scrutiny. If you are a resident living nearby, it also means another public body could become involved before the decision is settled.

The regulations set out five main types of application that can be treated this way. The first group is premises in Fee Band D or E. These fee bands are licensing categories linked broadly to the size and rateable value of a venue, so they usually catch larger or higher-value sites. The second group covers Fee Band B or C premises if the application includes licensable activities after 11pm. In licensing language, licensable activities usually include things like the sale of alcohol, late-night refreshment and regulated entertainment. The third group is straightforward: if the application proposes a capacity of more than 5,000 people at one time, it can count as strategically important. The fourth group covers licences that would last for less than three months, which is especially relevant for temporary but sizeable events. The fifth group covers applications involving regulated entertainment in the form of live music at Fee Band B or C premises. Importantly, these tests apply both to brand-new licence applications and to applications to vary an existing licence, so an established venue making a significant change can be caught too.

The process starts with the London licensing authority, usually the borough council, sending notice of the application to the Greater London Authority along with the application itself and any plans or supporting documents that came with it. The regulations say that if the GLA decides the application is one of potential strategic importance, interested parties must be notified within 10 working days after a valid notice reaches the GLA. That notice has to do more than just say "the GLA is interested". It must identify the application, explain why the GLA thinks it is strategically important, and summarise the legal effect of the sections that allow a mayoral call-in. The borough must also publish the GLA's view for at least five consecutive working days before the consultation period ends, so there is a public record that the case may move beyond the usual local route. **Why that matters:** this is not meant to happen behind closed doors. The rules build in a paper trail and a publication duty so applicants, neighbours and campaigners can see when a case has moved into this higher-profile category.

If the council decides a hearing is needed, the GLA must be given the date, time and place of that hearing, the procedure to be followed, the rights of parties, the consequences of not attending, and the relevant representations made on the application. That information must usually be sent at least 10 working days before the hearing. One of the more important technical changes is tucked into regulation 8. It amends the Hearings Regulations so that the Greater London Authority counts as a party to the hearing where the required information has been given. In everyday terms, that means City Hall is not just watching from the sidelines. It can take part within the hearing framework. After the hearing, the borough must send the GLA a detailed set of follow-up documents within five working days. That includes the determination and reasons, the record of proceedings, any recording if one exists, any notice sent to the applicant, the officer's report for committee members, and any other document given to the committee. So the Mayor's office is expected to have the full file, not just a brief summary.

The next deadline is one of the most important in the whole instrument. For an application that falls into this category, the Mayor of London has 20 working days to decide whether it should be called in for the Mayor's own determination. If there has been a hearing, that 20-working-day clock starts only once the borough has completed the required post-hearing information steps. Once the Mayor makes a decision, notice must be given within five working days. The borough then has to publish that decision and keep it published until the licence is revoked, surrendered, or, for a time-limited licence, until the period ends. The regulations also say that if the licensing authority makes an intervening decision, the GLA must be told within three working days. Another practical change runs through the whole scheme: the notices and information covered by these rules must be sent electronically, in a form that can be accessed, stored and reproduced clearly. So this is also a move towards a more standardised digital process.

There are some limits worth noticing. These regulations do not apply to applications already made before 3 November 2026, so there is no retrospective sweep. They formally extend to England and Wales, but the instrument says they apply in England only, and in practice the operative rules here are about London licensing authorities and Greater London. The source note on legislation.gov.uk says these regulations were made after the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 inserted new powers into the Licensing Act 2003. Read together, the message is clear: more licensing power is now sitting at city level when a case is judged important enough to affect London more widely. **What to watch now:** if you are an applicant, you will want to know early whether your venue falls into the fee bands or activity types that trigger extra scrutiny. If you are a resident, campaign group or worker in the night-time economy, this gives you a better map of who is in the room when big decisions are made. The Secretary of State must review how these rules are working, with the first report due within two years of 3 November 2026. So this is not the end of the story; it is the start of a new test of how local borough control and city-wide oversight will sit alongside each other.