Licensing in the time of Coronavirus – opportunities & challenges - Ginposium 2020

Gary Grant is one of the UK’s leading licensing barristers. He is top-ranked in both of the major independent legal directories (Legal 500 and Chambers Guide) where he is described as “The go-to counsel for licensing matters” and “Star Individual: just brilliant – hard working, determined to win and a very eloquent advocate, one of the best”.

In addition to his licensing expertise, Gary has a wealth of experience in the criminal courts at all levels up to and including the House of Lords/Supreme Court. Consequently, he is frequently instructed in cases at the frontier of both licensing and criminal law that require expertise in both.

Gary has 25 years’ experience at the Bar dealing with complex and important cases in all areas of licensing. They include many of the most hard-fought and high-profile licence applications, reviews and appeals involving the country’s leading nightclubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, sex entertainment venues, sporting and entertainment arenas, gambling operators (online and land-based), cinema groups, museums, theatres, markets, street carnivals and music festivals.

His clients have ranged from the Tate Modern to Pacha nightclub, from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to Spearmint Rhino, and from McDonald’s to Sir Terence Conran’s and Alan Yau OBE’s restaurants. In 2017, he obtained a 5am premises licence for a new London nightclub, a result that Time Out magazine described as “a landmark ruling…unprecedented”. As a true “independent” he represents the trade (from sole- traders to multi-national PLCs), residents, police forces and local authorities. This broad experience enables Gary to employ his insights to the advantage of all his clients at tribunals ranging from local Councils through to the Supreme Court.

He has a reputation for pursuing his clients’ interests with fierce independence, skill, tenacity and integrity. He is widely experienced in judicial reviews and has appeared in several of the leading reported cases of recent years in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court/House of Lords (including R v Rimmington the leading modern case defining “public nuisance”, and the landmark cases of ”Funky Mojoe” and ”Essence” on procedural defects in licensing).

Gary is a Consultant Editor of Paterson’s Licensing Acts (“the bible of licensing law”), the Principal Contributor to the “Clubs” volume in the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (Lexis Nexis), and is widely published in the Journal of Licensing and other law journals. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Institute of Licensing and advises trade and non-commercial bodies, national and local government and police forces on licensing law and policy.

Gary is able to accept instructions directly from members of the public in appropriate cases.
Francis Taylor Building Inner Temple,
London
EC4Y 7BY
DX: 402 LDE

Email: gary.grant@ftbchambers.co.uk
Chambers: 020 7353 8415
Mobile: 07973 284 715

Licensing profile: www.licensingbarrister.com
Chambers: www.ftbchambers.co.uk