On-premises liquor licence

Sell alcohol to drink at your venue without a requirement to serve meals.

Key features

Sell alcohol to drink at your venue without also being required to serve meals.
Sell and allow customers to drink alcohol in outdoor dining areas (with council permission and must be in red line plan).
Sell any type or amount of alcohol, unless otherwise stated on your licence.
Can apply to supply alcohol at off-site catering (must be an ongoing agreement with the venue and its address will be included on your licence).
Can apply to sell pre-opened alcohol (for example, can of beer, glass of wine) to drink at food courts or nearby them.
Cannot sell take away alcohol at your venue.

Trading hours

This licence allows you to trade:
Monday to Saturday (except ANZAC Day and Good Friday), 7 am to 1 am the following morning
Sunday, 10 am to 1 am the following morning
ANZAC Day and Good Friday, 12 noon to 1 am the following morning.

If you want to trade after 1 am, apply for a late night (on-premises) licence instead.

Apply at least 11 weeks before you need a licence. It may take longer if we need more information or if there are objections.

Who this licence suits

This licence suits a wide range of businesses that want flexible options for how and when they supply alcohol.

For example:

restaurants (if your main activity is serving meals, consider a restaurant and cafe licence)
bars and wine bars
nightclubs
art galleries
function venues (for example, wedding venues)
concert venues
sexually explicit entertainment venues (for example, strip clubs)
sex work premises
stadiums
council facilities
food courts.

Application fees

You need to pay a non-refundable application fee when you apply.

If your venue capacity is:

0 to 200 customers, the fee is $672.40
201 to 400 customers, the fee is $770.10
401 or more customers, the fee is $840.20.

Read about liquor licence annual renewal fees.

Before you apply

Complete these steps before you start your application.

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1Check council requirements

Contact the relevant local council to check if you need any planning permits for your venue.

You do not need a planning permit for your liquor licence, but you may need planning approval for other reasons.

2Complete or book training

Before you apply, as the applicant you must complete or be enrolled in new entrant training and Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training.

Before you start trading, any staff who serve alcohol must have a valid RSA certificate.

Read about RSA training and find a list of approved training providers.

3Check who can apply

Only an authorised person can apply for the licence. This depends on who is applying.

If you are applying as:

an individual, you must apply for the licence yourself (on the form this is called a ’natural person')
a company, a current director or someone the board has officially authorised to sign documents must apply
an incorporated association, an executive committee member must apply
a partnership, a partner must apply (partnerships can only be made up of individuals).

4Get your information ready

Have these details and documents ready:

business name
trading hours
proof of required training – either a certificate of completion or booking confirmation
red line plan that shows where alcohol will be sold and consumed
maximum patron capacity (how many customers your venue can hold). Get this from your council planning permit, if it’s listed as a condition, or find out how to show it on your red line plan.
ASIC current and historical information extract (only if applying as a company). The extract must be dated within the past 90 days. To buy one, search organisations and business names in the ASIC register. Make sure you have the correct document. We cannot process your application without it.
venue management plan, if you want to have live or amplified music.
credit card details – to pay the non-refundable application fee (Visa or Mastercard). The form will ask you to declare that you have the right to occupy the venue. You must have a property title, lease or other legal document that gives you the right.

You no longer need to upload a council planning permit with your application. Instead, upload the LCV new licence or permit planning document when the form asks for a planning permit. This is a temporary step until we update the form. You can upload a planning permit instead, if you have one.

LCV new licence or permit planning document PDF 112.91 KB (opens in a new window)

Apply now

Complete the application form on the Service Victoria website.

It takes about 45 minutes to complete.

Get help with unfamiliar words and details in the application form.

Apply now

After you apply

Service Victoria will email to acknowledge your application, including a receipt for your application fee.

Liquor Control Victoria will then review your application and email if we need more information. This may take a few weeks.

We send your application to Victoria Police and the relevant local council. This gives both a chance to object to your licence if they have concerns.

Victoria Police may contact you about your application.

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Respond if we need more details

We will email you if:

your application has missing or incorrect details
we need additional information to help us assess your application. Make sure you respond to any request by the date we give in the email.

If you do not, we may refuse your application – you will lose your application fee.

Display your public notice

We’ll email you instructions on when and how to display your public notice for 28 days.

The notice lets the community know about your application and gives them a chance to have their say.

How to display your notice

When displaying the notice at your venue, you must:

use our public notice template

Public notice PDF 303.56 KB (opens in a new window)

place it where people walking past can easily see it
display it during the dates we tell you.

Submit your Statement of Display

After 28 days have passed, you must declare that you displayed the notice correctly and that the display period is now over.

To do this:

Complete this form:

Statement of display PDF 114.06 KB (opens in a new window)

Email the form to contact@liquor.vic.gov.au.

Respond to any objections

After your public notice goes up, the community has 30 days to object to your application.

They must explain how the licence could negatively affect the area’s amenity – for example, noise or disruption to their quiet enjoyment of living there.

Victoria Police and the local council may also object to the licence.

If we receive any valid objections, we’ll contact you to respond.

For example, if someone raises a concern about noise, you could explain how you plan to manage it.

We’ll take this into account when we assess your application.

When you get your decision

It can take about 9 to 11 weeks to get your decision.

It may take longer if someone objected to your licence or we needed to ask for more information.

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If we grant your licence

We email to advise that we are granting your licence.

The email tells you how to sign up to our Liquor Portal.

It’s important that you register. It’s where you can:

access your annual renewal notice
download a copy of your licence and red line plan
manage your notifications
update contact details and other actions. Find out how to manage your licence.

Stay compliant

Be aware of your obligations under the law and as a licensee.

There are serious penalties if you do not comply.

Find out how to stay compliant.

If we refuse your licence

We will email to advise that we are refusing the licence, including reasons for our decision.

If you want to appeal the decision

You can appeal the:

decision to grant or refuse the licence
details of the licence, for example, the licence conditions or red line plan.

When to appeal

You must appeal within 28 days of receiving the licence decision.

How to appeal

Complete the internal review application form. It has details on the reasons for appeals we can accept.

Internal review application PDF 1.53 MB (opens in a new window)

Send the form to us either by:

Email: secretariat@liquor.vic.gov.au
Mail: Liquor Control Victoria GPO Box 4356 MELBOURNE VIC 3001

We will email you with next steps. This may take a few weeks.

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On-premises liquor licence

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Key features

Trading hours

Who this licence suits

Application fees

Before you apply

Apply now

After you apply

How to display your notice

Submit your Statement of Display

When you get your decision

Stay compliant

When to appeal

How to appeal

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