I spend most of my time as a licensing lawyer dealing with new applications and variations of licences for pubs, supermarkets, cinemas and convenience stores so it’s always good to get involved with something a little different.

I’ve acted for Castlebridge Group and Hospitality for a while. The company develops, owns and operates hotels in Spain and in the UK and I recently received instructions to vary the licence for one of their hotels, the Holiday Inn in Winchester.

The £2million refurbishment scheme involved converting the existing bar, restaurant and lounge on the lower ground floor into a new spa and fitness suite. On the ground floor, the former reception area and an area taken up by a number of guest bedrooms was to be converted into a new reception, open lobby, bar and restaurant with a new external dining area. This was all to be done without the hotel closing!

Given the difficulties of running a hotel whilst two of your floors are being turned upside down (literally), the licensing application needed to be relatively straightforward for our client so we used our knowledge and experience to work closly with the responsible authorities to ensure that everything was agreed and granted in good time. We even ensured that the contractors did not remove or obscure the notices throughout the ongoing refurbishment works which was a challenge in itself!

I’ve seen the results of the refurbishment which is stunning and understand that the new spa is to open very shortly.

If you are down that way, the hotel is on the edge of the South Downs with historic Winchester only 5 minutes away and therefore it’s a great base from which to explore. When you are enjoying a drink in the bar, restaurant or even perhaps some fizz in the spa, please give me a thought as I’ll probably be back to the usual day job, concerning myself with the intricacies of supermarket licensing in Scotland or whether residents who have just bought a house next to a pub can complain about people drinking outside it.

Need advice on licensing?

Contact the author, Richard Taylor today on 01482 324252 or via email by clicking or tapping here.

Richard is a nationally renowned Licensing lawyer with decades of experience. Richard deals primarily with the licensing of public houses, supermarkets, hotels and betting offices on behalf of a number of household names across the UK. He also acts for individuals both locally and nationally.