Market Operator Licence

Market Operator Licences - Licensing Requirements

• A licence is required to operate any private market, which is defined as being a market, whether covered or not, carried on by any person other than a local or public authority at which goods are offered by more than one seller for sale by retail to the public.
• A market operator licence is not required to hold any of the following:
  (a) functions held by charitable, religious, youth, recreational, community, political or similar organisations.
  (b) markets held only for the sale of livestock, fodder or grain.

A copy of the standard schedule of conditions which will be attached to a market operator licence if your application is successful is enclosed for information.  You should note that we may also make, at our discretion, additional conditions relating to an individual market operator licence.

Read our Guidance Notes (PDF) for information about completing the Application Form, the application procedure and the Certificate of Display.

Application Form (PDF) Application Form (Word)

Procedure

Your application must be in writing (including by electronic means), in the form specified by us and accompanied by any requested fee.

Public notice of the application may be given in a local newspaper and objections may be considered.

We may make such reasonable inquiries as we think fit and include the results of these inquiries in matters we take into account, but where we intend to include any of these results we must notify you.

You may be given the opportunity to make representations.

If the market is to take place on premises the application must also contain either of the following:

• A declaration that you will display a notice at the premises for 21 days which contains the details in your licence application and details on how to make
  representations regarding the application. This should be followed by a certificate to us stating that this requirement has been complied with.
• A declaration that you do not have rights in the premises that enable you to put up a notice, and detailing the reasonable steps that you have made to acquire those rights.

Will Tacit Consent Apply?

Yes. This means that you will be able to act as though your application is granted if you have not heard from the local authority by the end of the target completion period.

Fees

The fee you will pay depends on the information you supply in your application. Guidance on how to calculate the fee is given in the form and you will pay it online.
To minimise our costs, we will pass on a 1.80% charge on the value of all payments made by credit card.

Apply online

To apply online for a market operator licence, to supply a certificate of compliance or to make a change to a licence  please use the links in the Online Services box below.