Today draft takeaway businesses are growing faster than ever as residents stay at home to have food delivered to their doors. Pubs, Micro-breweries and bars must obtain an off-sales condition for Beer Takeaway on their premises if they are to compete with such takeaway businesses. Such businesses have been trying to provide takeaway alcohol, with regular bar taps, which is inefficient, now DraftToGo offers the perfect solution.
1. Why You Should Get an Off-Sales Condition to begin Beer Draft Takeaway
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, has said that 15,000 pubs may have to close.
It is estimated that 70m pints could be poured away of stock that will go off. With Draft To Go takeaway solution, you do not need to let a single pint go to waste, however.
These millions of pints can be safely bottled at your premises from Drafttogo taps at your bar, installed in just five minutes, and delivered to waiting residents. All that is needed for this is an off-licence sales condition for the premises.
The short term consequence of attaining an Off-Sales Condition is selling alcohol in pubs, which will soon go off. But the medium and long-term consequences are far more important and interesting for the pub and brewery sector.
In 2020 the value of the takeaway market in the UK is £19bn and it is growing faster than any other sector.
This is in comparison to the value Pubs and Bars, still more valuable at £21bn. Historically the takeaway sector was far smaller before demand grew to present levels, for example the sectors’ value of £9bn of 2015.
Even before the outbreak, the Takeaway sector was the fastest growing of all sectors of the British economy, outgrowing computing, fin-tech, high-value engineering, etc. Order volumes grew 28% YoY as of February this year according to consumer data.
Draft To Go advocates Pubs, Bars and Breweries adding Off-sales conditions to their premises licences if they have not done so already so that they grow with the draft takeaway sector and increase their sales volumes!!
The Government is currently offering hospitality businesses grants of up to £25,000 if their rateable value is less than £51,000 for businesses struggling with the effects of Coronavirus.
2. Demand for Draft Takeaway from the Public Means Businesses Need Off-Sales Conditions
On March 17 the Government changed laws to permit businesses to expand into takeaways. Laws on alcohol delivery remain the same however, meaning businesses must have a condition in their premises licences permitting them to undertake alcohol delivery.
Premises can find further information from the official .gov government website on how they may go about attaining an off-sales condition. The process will need to be done through their local county councils, where primises are registered. This is where the government directs premises holders from their website.
As further sources from the internet have shown, demand for takeaway services during lockdown have rocketed, and some further information can be found online on how to launch a takeaway venture.
3. What The Law Says about Off-Sales Conditions for Alcohol Takeaway
Q: I have an off sale licence and wish to deliver alcohol. Are there any special rules?
England and Wales
Home deliveries of alcohol need to be controlled in the same way that a regular on or off sale of alcohol is made.
Your premises licence may contain additional conditions about home deliveries of alcohol and you should ensure that you are familiar with these conditions, and that you comply with the conditions, before making any home deliveries of alcohol.
Scotland
It is important to note that deliveries of alcohol are highly regulated in Scotland. You should note the following legal requirements.
- You must keep delivery records (see below) on the premises and in the delivery vehicle;
- No deliveries before 6am or after midnight;
- All payments must be processed during licensed hours (usually 10am to 10pm but check your specific licensed hours for off-sale);
- Challenge 25 must be applied when delivering the alcohol.
- The record keeping requirements are that a day book must be kept at your despatch premises and a delivery book or invoice carried by the driver or courier must specify:(a) the quantity, description and price of alcohol, and (b) the name and address of the person to whom it is being delivered.
Delivering the alcohol to an address other than as per the order form is an offence, so it cannot be left with a neighbour and any redirection would require the day book and invoice order updated.
If you are planning to despatch alcohol via a third party it is your responsibility to ensure that their service complies with the law, the major issue being delivery of alcohol to under 18s. Thus the delivery driver/courier must seek proof of age at the point of delivery. This may prove very difficult where a customer is self-isolating, the law anticipates face to face contact and the physical verification of ID at the door step in line with the above mentioned Challenge 25 condition. You should be asking customers if they are self-isolating and have processes in place to mitigate the risk.
There are no specific requirements for the couriers to have the two hour mandatory alcohol training but they must have some training to allow them to fulfil their age verification responsibilities. You should carefully check your Premises Licence to make sure that there are no conditions that regulate how you can deliver alcohol.
4. What are the Costs Involved?
Q. Application to add an Off-Sales Condition is a headache, I only want to run my Pub. What are the costs? Will it be worth it?
Well laid-laid out costs of an application to change your premises licence are laid out here from this source:
| Fee band | A (£0–£4,300) | B (£4,301–£33,000) | C (£33,001–£87,000) | D (£87,001–£125,000) | E (£125,000+) |
| New application and variation | £100 | £190 | £315 | £450 | £635 |
| Annual charges | £70 | £180 | £295 | £320 | £350 |
The extras to include in your application are well summarised by Sheffield county council here. These may vary from county to county, but in general follow Home Office guidelines and may be summarised:
5. Problems with Coronavirus
Q. Aren’t Councils still closed for any application I make?
- Most councils and their licensing departments as far as we have been able to tell are open at time of publish and will be for the forseeable future for licence applications and changes.
Q. My draft beer and ale is going off soon, time is of the essence. I can’t afford the fees and the time to change my licence. Can’t I just start takeaway draft delivery now?
- The law (specifically the Licensing act 2003) is clear in stating that businesses require an off-sales condition as part of their premises licence to deliver alcohol for takeaway.
- If you you are a business such as a microbrewery which has sold to a previous business before and have registered for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) you could sell bottled draft to another business such as an off-licence, whilst also applying for a condition to be added to your premises licence.
6. Which Delivery Service should I choose?
The best delivery service to use is one that has been designed for Drinks delivery. Takeaway delivery services such as Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and newer entrants, are almost exclusively designed for restauratants and takeaway venues. As such the customer needs to select a restaurant and browse the restaurant menu there before moving to another shop.
You should choose a takeaway delivery partner specifically designed from its’ origins for drinks! Checkout our sister company, Drinxin for more information, you can go straight to our signup page here, or contact us at for more information on how we work.
*All of the above is guidance only and in all cases readers are advised to seek help from the official government guidelines at their county and at national level, and where relevant to consult legal advice.
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