A. No. The rules regarding the presence of children on licensed premises are complex and often misunderstood. The main prohibition in fact, has nothing to do with people under 18 but rather people under 14. In the case of premises which are subject to a public house or hotel licence, it is an offence to allow persons under 14 years of age to be in the bar area of the premises during the normal licensing hours. (Different rules apply to restaurant, restricted hotel and entertainment licensed premises).

A. Not quite, but close! If you hold a public house or hotel licence then you can apply to the Licensing Board for a children's certificate in respect of either the whole premises or just a part of the premises. If granted, then the certificate allows you to have people under 14 years of age on the premises (or approved part) but only between 11 am and 8 pm and provided that they are accompanied by a person of at least 18 years of age and are there to have a meal. Beware – many Licensing Boards attach quite onerous conditions to their children's certificates, for example, a prohibition on smoking.

A. You need two licences. Firstly, you need a gaming licence issued by HM Customs & Excise. The applications for these are usually dealt with by the companies who lease the machines to licence holders. Secondly, you need a gaming permit (sometimes called an Amusement With Prizes or AWP permit) issued by the Licensing Board (if you have a public house or hotel licence) or by the Local Authority's appropriate committee (if you have another type of licence).

A. No. You only need gaming licences and gaming permits for "games of chance" as opposed to "games of skill".

A. You need to apply to the Licensing Board for an occasional extension of permitted hours. Most Licensing Boards have set policies on the hours in respect of which they will normally grant an occasional extension. Boards also usually have their own rules about how far in advance you must apply for the extension – usually somewhere between 14 and 28 days before the event.

A. No. There is no statutory obligation on Licensing Boards to issue reminders to licence holders. Some do, but many don't. It is important that you maintain your diary system for licence expiry dates.

A. No. Transfers of licences can be dealt with in one of two ways. Firstly, they can be dealt with by a single stage transfer which can only be considered at one of the quarterly meetings in January, March, June or October. Secondly, they can be dealt with by way of a two-stage procedure. The first stage involves an application for temporary transfer which can usually be dealt with by the Licensing Board's Clerk under delegated powers and may take anywhere from about two to six weeks to process. That then needs to be followed up by an application for permanent transfer which does need to be considered at the next quarterly Board Meeting.