Street, pavement Cafés and furniture

Alfresco licence

An alfresco licence is a temporary licence which allows you to place outdoor dining/furniture on the highway. ‘Highway’ land is specified as any carriageway, footway or verge adopted by Cheshire East Highways.

We need a minimum of 10 working days’ notice to review, consult and process your licence.

Once the licence has been issued, this will be valid until 30 September 2024

Apply for a temporary pavement licence

You can apply for a temporary alfresco licence to put furniture on pedestrian parts of the adopted highway using our quick and simple process.

We cannot grant a licence for premises on private or unadopted roads or land which is not a pedestrianised part of an adopted highway. You must check that you are on an adopted road by checking our road gazetteer.

Only the named person responsible for the main premises using the outside space can apply for this licence. You do not need to seek planning permission for a temporary licence.

To apply you will need:

• the full name and address of the premises
• the premises license or club premises certificate number (if you will be selling alcohol)
• Trading hours and days 
• contact details for the license holder of the premises
• a site plan of the proposed licensed area showing basic dimensions (this does not need to be detailed as a site assessment will be carried out) example of a sketch plan for a pavement Café (PDF, 54KB)
• to have checked the space is on an adopted road
• your certificate of public liability insurance to cover at least £5 million

Fees and charges

These charges do not come into effect until September 2024

• Up to 6 seats (Sep – Aug): £225
• 7-12 seats: £450
• 13 or more seats: £810

Annual renewal:

• Up to 6 seats: £150
• 7-12 seats: £300
• 13 or more seats: £500

All fees and charges must be paid online when submitting the application form.

Refunds will be available for both, however an admin fee of £97 will be deducted.

To find out how we use your information see our privacy notice (opens in a new window).

If you have any questions call 0300 123 5020 or email: highwayslicences@cheshireeasthighways.org

You will need to print the Notice at the end of your application or download the PDF to print, sign and display.

After you apply for a temporary pavement licence

Your application will be processed within 10 working days.

In the meantime you will need to display a notice advertising your application at the premises for 5 working days from submission of the application. You can print this from the second email you received from ‘citizen hub’.

If we receive any objections we will contact you to see if we can grant the licence with or without changes.

If we receive any objections we will contact you to see if we can grant the licence with or without changes.

Your temporary licence is valid from the date it is granted until the 30 September 2024.

If you have any questions call 0300 123 5020 or email: highwayslicences@cheshireeasthighways.org

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Page last reviewed: 12 November 2024