Western Cape event liquor licences — done properly, lodged on time.

No — and it's worth knowing why. South African liquor law has no such thing as a "mobile liquor licence." Every licence is anchored to specific, fixed premises that have to be identified, described and inspected — so a bar can't be licensed to roam from venue to venue. What you actually licence is the event at its venue: a set premises, a responsible person and a set timeframe. So if you run a mobile bar, each event gets its own special-event licence for that specific venue — which is exactly what we set up for you.

Yes, easily. Churches, schools, business premises and commercial buildings are already zoned for this kind of use, so zoning is a non-issue and they're among the quickest venues to get licensed. Schools carry one extra condition (WCED authorisation, and no liquor during school hours) — covered below.

This is the single biggest thing that catches events out, so check it early. The property has to be zoned for the kind of use your event involves — business or commercial premises are fine, and institutional venues like churches and schools are too. A standard residential property is not. Lodge on a venue that isn't properly zoned and the application can be turned down — with the time and money you've already put in lost along with it. The safe move is to confirm it up front: your local municipality's town-planning / land-use department can issue a zoning certificate for the property. If the zoning isn't right, it has to be changed first (a consent use or temporary departure), which you'd arrange through a town planner — a separate job from the licence, often slow and costly, and not something we take on. Send us the venue and we'll tell you straight away whether you're good to lodge or need to sort the zoning out first.

The law requires the application to be in at least 39 full days before the event — and the Authority counts strictly. Lodge on the 39th day itself and it's treated as late, so the real working deadline is the 40th day before your event. (A lot of people get caught out by this; we don't.) It must reach the WCLA, the local SAPS and town planning by then. We also need a little lead time to build the pack and chase anything missing, so the honest answer is start six to eight weeks out if you can — earlier is cheaper and far less stressful.

Don't panic — but move fast. You can still lodge after the 40-day mark, but it triggers a R570-per-day penalty plus a condonation application (a separate, motivated request asking the Authority to accept the late submission). Every day you wait adds to the penalty, so the sooner we start the less it costs. We handle late and condonation applications regularly — get in touch today and we'll get moving.

Two parts. First, the Liquor Authority's own statutory fees — estimate those right now with our free calculator. Second, our service fee for preparing and lodging everything, quoted per event once we see the details (it depends on the size of the event, the number of bars and how much time we have). No hidden extras — you'll have both numbers before we start.

Less than you'd expect. In short: who's applying (your details and ID, or your company's CIPC documents), the venue (ERF number, address, owner details and a few photos), the event (dates, times and what's happening), and a site plan and bar layout — a rough sketch is fine, we redraw it. No certified copies needed yet, and clear phone photos (landscape oriented) do the job. Our online form walks you through every step.

Yes. Two conditions: the school must obtain written authorisation from the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to allow liquor on the property, and no liquor may be sold or consumed during school hours. We'll tell you exactly what the school needs to provide.