Gary Grant

Practice Areas

Gary has over 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, leisure developments, cinema groups, museums, theatres, street carnivals and music festivals. His cases often involve prominent licence reviews of nightclubs and late night applications in cumulative impact/stress policy areas, particularly in the UK’s major city centres.

His clients have ranged from the Tate Modern to Hard Rock Cafe and Pacha nightclub, from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to Spearmint Rhino, and from McDonald's to Sir Terence Conran and Alan Yau OBE's restaurants. He recently obtained a 5am premises licence for a new London nightclub, a result that Time Out magazine described as "a landmark ruling…unprecedented".

Gary is also at the forefront of advising businesses and bodies in regard to the legal cannabis market in the UK and is Head of the Cannabis Group at Francis Taylor Building.

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. His criminal work spans regulatory offences, fraud, firearms and explosives, serious violence/homicide, and motoring offences. Consequently, he is frequently instructed in cases at the frontier of both licensing and criminal law that require expertise in both.

Gary has acted in several of the leading judicial reviews involving licensing and criminal matters in the High Court and Court of Appeal and was Counsel in the leading House of Lords/Supreme Court case of R v Rimmington & Goldstein which defined the modern approach to the offence of causing a public nuisance.

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.

In addition to his work for leading firms of solicitors and consultants, Gary is able to accept instructions directly from businesses and individuals. This "barrister-led" model provides clients with the most expert legal advice, representation and advocacy - in the most cost-effective manner - right from the very outset of a case.

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, the professional body representing those who work within the field of licensing, and a prominent speaker at licensing conferences and industry events. Gary advises trade bodies as well as national and local government and police forces on licensing issues.

For further information see: www.licensingbarrister.com