Woking's draft licensing policy would ask pubs and bars to train staff on spiking and offer drink covers or test kits. Comments close on Sunday 6 September.

Woking Borough Council wants pubs, bars and clubs to spell out what they are doing about drink spiking. It is one of the substantive changes in a draft Statement of Licensing Policy now out for consultation, and anyone can comment until Sunday 6 September (Woking Borough Council).

The policy is not a set of laws. It is the document that tells the licensing authority how to decide applications, and it tells applicants what a good application looks like. Every licensing authority has to publish one at least every five years under section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003.

What the draft asks of licensed premises

Section 7.5 of the draft is new territory. It says the authority expects applicants to show they understand the risks of spiking and to set out practical steps in their operating schedule. The measures it lists are (draft Statement of Licensing Policy, PDF):

  • training staff to recognise and respond to a suspected spiking
  • clear procedures for reporting incidents to the police
  • protective measures such as drink covers or testing kits, where appropriate
  • closer supervision where drinks are served or consumed
  • notices telling customers to stay alert and report concerns

Where there is evidence of spiking, or the nature of a venue raises the risk, the authority says it may impose tailored conditions on the licence. The draft takes its definition of spiking from the section 182 statutory guidance dated November 2025.

Three other expectations in the same part of the draft are worth knowing:

  • Violence against women and girls. Operating schedules should show how a venue reduces vulnerability, through staff training, supervision and incident reporting.
  • A radio link to the police. Applicants for bars, pubs and nightclubs in Woking town centre will be expected to join an inter-premises radio network linked to the police during opening hours, where one is running.
  • Happy hours. The draft treats promotions that encourage rapid or excessive drinking as contrary to the licensing objectives.

What the draft does not do

Two absences matter as much as the additions.

The council does not operate a Cumulative Impact Assessment, the tool that lets an authority presume against new licences in a saturated area. The draft says it will keep the need for one under review and evidence-led.

The draft also rules out zoning, meaning fixed trading hours for designated areas. Its reasoning is that zoning pushes people across boundaries at set times in search of somewhere open later, which concentrates noise and disturbance rather than reducing it. Later hours will generally be considered more appropriate in the town centre than elsewhere, because of the CCTV network, transport and enforcement presence there.

On off-licences, the draft says the council will only consider restricting the hours shops and supermarkets can sell alcohol where there is good reason, giving police representations about street drinking or youths gathering as the example.

One line in the draft is unusually frank about the town. It notes that late night public transport in Woking is limited, and unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future, so people leaving licensed premises disperse predominantly by taxi. The council says it will keep taxi licensing under review to help that happen safely.

The town centre anti-social behaviour picture

Separately, the council’s Executive approved plans for a new Public Spaces Protection Order covering parts of Woking town centre at its meeting on 9 July. The council said a six-week consultation drew 362 responses, with more than 80% supporting a PSPO and 76% saying anti-social behaviour was having a negative impact locally (Woking Borough Council). Full Council was due to consider formally adopting it on 23 July.

We could not confirm the outcome of that meeting today. The council’s own PSPO service page still describes the previous town centre order, which ran from February 2022 to February 2025 and was not extended, and the committee record it links to is not reachable from here. Treat the new order as proposed rather than in force until the council says otherwise.

What it means for you

If you live near a licensed venue, or you run one, this is the six-week window in which the rules that will govern the next round of applications can still change.

  • Deadline: Sunday 6 September 2026.
  • Comments go by email to licensing@woking.gov.uk.
  • Include your name, your organisation if you have one, and the section of the policy your comment relates to. Responses that point at a specific paragraph are easier for officers to act on than general views.
  • After the consultation, officers review the responses and take a final policy to Full Council for approval.

The draft policy runs to 36 pages and is published in full as a PDF on the consultation page. If you only read part of it, section 7 covers crime and disorder, section 11 covers licensing hours.

For other council business you can act on, see our Woking planning applications page, and the conservation area appraisals consultation, which closes on 31 August.

Sources