Licensing and street trading
We are responsible for the regulation and licensing of a wide range of activities.
Any individual or organisation involved in supplying alcohol, providing regulated entertainment, or selling late night refreshment, either on a temporary or permanent basis, must be authorised to do so by the local authority.
We are responsible for licensing animal boarding establishments, riding establishments, dog breeding establishments, dangerous wild animals, pet shops and zoos.
Premises or stalls at which certain types of goods are sold by competitive bidding must be registered with us.
Anyone who manufactures or stores explosives (including shops selling fireworks) must either be registered with their local authority or licensed by the Health & Safety Executive.
Find out how to apply for premises licences for betting shops, race tracks and sports grounds, bingo clubs, and amusement arcades, as well as details on how to obtain a permit for gaming machines in members clubs and licensed premises, and how to register a local society to promote a small lottery.
We register motor salvage operators operating within the Lambeth area. This includes vehicle breakers, and businesses repairing written-off vehicles for resale.
We are responsible for licensing premises for a wide range of functions, including venues for marriage and civil partnership ceremonies, performances of hypnotism, sale of non-medicinal poisons and caravan sites.
Anyone carrying on the business of a scrap metal dealer in the Lambeth area must be registered with us. This includes both scrap metal yards and dealers with fixed premises, and itinerant scrap metal collectors without premises.
Sex shops, sex cinemas, and other premises offering sexual entertainment or related services must be specifically licensed by the council for these activities.
We issue licences to skip companies to deposit skips on public highways. We also issue licences for erecting scaffolding, hoarding and fencing, for excavating the footway or carriageway, for storing building materials, and for depositing portable cabins and containers.
We issue licences for massage and special treatment premises. Special treatments include UV tanning, sauna, waxing, electrolysis, cosmetic piercing, acupuncture and tattooing.
Sports grounds with a capacity of more than 10,000 spectators (or 5,000 for football league grounds) must hold a safety certificate issued by the local authority. Stands at smaller grounds may also require their own safety certificates.
As well as regulating the markets, we also issue shop front licences and tables and chairs licences and tackle the problem of vehicles for sale on the highway. House to house and street collection licences are issued by the Metropolitan Police.
This page lists many of the activities for which a licence, permit or registration must be obtained from Lambeth Council, and provides links for further information on several types of licence issued by other bodies.