Cinema Licence

A licence is not required for:

• exhibiting films in a private house, to which the public are not admitted provided the exhibition is not for private gain
• non-commercial film exhibitions to which the public are not admitted or are admitted without payment or exhibitions by exempted societies or organisations.
• occasional and exceptional exhibitions - where premises are used on no more than six days in the calendar year.
• mobile cinemas (other than for where the owner of the mobile unit resides)

Additionally, a licence is not required for:

• video games
• screening of television programmes at the time they are received.

There are further exemptions from the need to obtain a licence which extend to exhibitions which are given by exempted organisations holding certificates granted by the Secretary of State.

An exempted organisation is a society, institution, committee or other organisation with respect to which there is in force at the time of the exhibition in question a certificate given by the Secretary of State certifying that he is satisfied that the organisation is not conducted or established for profit.

If you want to apply for a licence you must submit an application form along with the required documents and the appropriate fee.

Application forms which have guidance notes attached to them and a list of fees are available from the downloads section of this page. You should read the guidance notes carefully before completing your application form.

There are two separate application forms. One is for persons applying for a licence as an individual and the other is to be completed by applicants who are companies, partnership or organisations.

If you wish a temporary licence for a particular event your application should preferably be made at least 3 months before the event to allow time for the application to be processed. Applications must be received at least 28 days in advance of the date of the event. 

All applications are copied to the Council's advisors who can recommend that conditions in addition to the standard conditions detailed on this page are attached to the licence when granted. If you do not want to accept any recommended conditions then the application would be referred to the Licensing Committee for a decision to be made regarding which conditions will apply to your licence. Mandatory background checks will be carried out on all applicants by Police Scotland and applicants' details will be retained on computer. You will be contacted once vetting is complete.

Subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all unspent convictions, fixed penalties and alternatives to prosecution  must be declared including all breaches of road traffic law and you can find further information on that by using this link Scottish Government Guidance on Disclosure of Convictions which takes you to guidance from the Scottish Government regarding the disclosure of convictions, including spent convictions or alternatives to prosecution.

If you have previous convictions and have doubts as to which offences are spent you may wish to seek legal advice before completing an application.

Applications which do not attract any adverse comments/objections are granted by the Chief Solicitor under delegated powers. All other applications require to be referred to the Licensing Committee for determination. You will be advised if your application is being referred to the Licensing Committee. The Committee meets on a monthly basis.

A cinema licence is issued for a period of 1 year for both the grant or renewal of a licence. Alternatively if your application is for a temporary licence, the licence will be granted for 1 month.

Standard conditions that are applied to cinema licences can be found in the downloads section of this page.

You should notify us as soon as you can if your details change or any of the information given in your application becomes out of date due to a change in your circumstances.

If you no longer wish to hold your licence you can surrender it to the council at any time by returning your licence together with a letter stating that you wish to surrender it. If you surrender your licence it will cease to have effect.

The following list contains details of licences for premises which have permanent cinema licences. These licences are granted for one year with the licences continuing in effect once an application to renew the licence is granted. The list is updated regularly and at least every 12 weeks and gives details of the name of the licence holder and premises address. For the avoidance of doubt this is the only information available to members of the public Current List of Cinema Licence Holders [56KB]

Complaints regarding the conduct of licence holders may be made to the Licensing Team. These should be made in writing by email or letter providing full details of the nature of the complaint.

Complaints regarding unlicensed cinemas should be made to Police Scotland by calling 101.