Nicola is a Senior Associate in our Environmenal, Safety and Health practice group specialising in hospitality and leisure based in our Birmingham office. Her particular expertise covers all aspects of licensing including alcohol, entertainment and late night food sales. She also has experience in gambling premises licence applications.

Nicola acts for a wide range of clients from listed companies to entrepreneurs. The applications she deals with range from licensing exhibition centres and full service hotels to small bespoke catering outlets. She prides herself on providing commercially-minded advice as part of a one-stop shop for clients dealing with the management of all of their licensing requirements. The team are available 24/7 to deal with problems and queries.

Nicola also provides support on Corporate, Property and Insolvency transactions involving licensed premises.

In addition, she and the team can advise upon the implications of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 and on licences required for the playing of copyright music by PRS, PPL or VPL. Nicola has provided training on the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 and associated legislation and has drafted Operations Manuals and advised on trading standards’ inspections.

Nicola is a member of the Institute of Licensing for the West Midlands Region.

Representative Experience

• Management of licensed estate of over 60 hotels nationwide to include all applications for premises and personal licences.
• Applications for a wide variety of premises from offices to universities to museums and galleries on behalf of a contract catering company.
• Licensing advice and applications for exhibition premises and concert venues in West Midlands.
• Dealing with contested application for Betting Office Premises Licence under Gambling Act 2005 in Westminster.
• Successfully arguing before Licensing Committee in Derby that local resident not an interested party within meaning of Licensing Act.
• Magistrates’ Court Appeal against decision of Licensing Authority to grant Premises Licence.
• Providing training session to clients on Mandatory Conditions that were attached to Premises Licences in 2010.
• Drafting training documents and operating manuals for numerous clients.
• Advising the administrators of a brewery on the effect of the insolvency of the premises licence holder and submitting interim authority applications on their behalf.