Ellenbrook United Football Club
In late December, Canford were engaged by Ellenbrook United Football Club to help obtain a club restricted liquor licence. Working with President Andrew Thomas and Vice President Mark Aungier, we helped them obtain their liquor licence by late April.
In conducting the work for our client, it quickly became clear that the points of contention for this application would come from the agreement struck between tenant and landlord, as well as ensuring the clubhouse facilities met the requirements for a liquor licence.
The takeaway lessons from this application, which are often prevalent in smaller liquor licence jobs, are the necessity for properly drawn plans, and the need to be aware and tackle issues with your local Council early. In our experience, sporting clubs and smaller associations often do not have a current set of plans drawn up. Unfortunately, this often leads to delays in progressing a client’s application. We always recommend that clients obtain a full set of plans for their premises from their landlord. Further, Council applications can always bring up unforeseen issues either not made known to the client by the previous tenant or landlord, these too can cause delays as they often require a resolution before the Licensing Authority can progress the application.
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In the case of EUFC, their landlord was the City of Swan. Between organising certain permissions and amending of premises plans via communications with the Council, small delays would slowly mount up. Thankfully we were able to act as intermediary between client and Council, reaching an amicable solution for each problem presented.
From the liquor licensing side, the application was a bit more straightforward. With a Club Restricted licence – there is no specific requirement to have a glass washer on premises – as there might be with most other licence types. The option to not have a glass washer simply means that you are not able to serve liquor in glasses. This often isn’t a problem for clubs, who then pivot to sell liquor in stubbies and cans.
Lastly, and specifically to EUFC was the issue of dealing with the seasonality of their lease with City of Swan. Our client only has ‘exclusive’ use of the grounds for a certain portion of the year. It is then predominantly used by another sport for the summer season. Quoting the Council’s policy on the use of these grounds specifically, “The City prohibits the consumption of alcohol on any sports grounds or building without a liquor licence from the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor. The City will assess the request and may give permission for the application of either an Occasional Liquor Licence or for a Club Restricted Licence. Permission for a Club Restricted Licence will be granted to a club on a seasonal basis only.” ”
After a few conversations with the Licensing Authority, we came to a solution whereby the club restricted licence was granted on a ‘seasonal’ basis.
We’re thankful to the team at Ellenbrook United Football Club for using us to help them with their liquor licence. Further, we’re glad to have helped guide their application. We wish them all the best for the upcoming season.