Gary Grant

Barrister information

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, summary reviews and appeals involving the country's leading nightclubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, sex entertainment venues, sporting and entertainment arenas, taxi and gambling operators, leisure developments, cinema groups, museums, theatres, street carnivals and music festivals. His cases often involve applications in cumulative impact/stress policy areas, particularly in the UK’s major city centres.

His clients have included Tate Modern, Hard Rock Café, Amazon, McDonald’s, Pacha, Spearmint Rhino, Hilton and Britannia Hotels, Rekom UK, Spearmint Rhino, and the restaurants of Sir Terence Conran and Alan Yau OBE. 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 and environmental offences, fraud, firearms and explosives, drugs, 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 advises and represents the trade (from sole-traders to multi-national PLCs), resident bodies, police forces, local authorities and government departments. 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, in appropriate cases Gary is able to accept instructions directly from businesses, individuals and licensing consultants.

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. In 2021 he was made a Fellow of the Institute of Licensing in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the field of licensing.

For further information see: www.licensingbarrister.com