One question I am often asked is ‘do I need planning permission for a marquee in my garden ?’ The short answer to this is NO, as long as the marquee is not up for any longer than 28 days. If you need the marquee to up for longer than 28 days then you will need some kind of planning permission.
If you are planning on having ‘licensable activities’ in your garden, such as live music or the sale of alcohol “for a consideration or with a view to a profit”, then you may need to apply to the local council for a Temporary Event Notice. This means that for an event where the guests have not been charged an admission fee or you are not selling alcohol to make a profit you do NOT need to have a licence. In all the years we have been supplying marquees for personal and private use I cannot remember an instance where a Temporary Event Notice licence was ever acquired.
Based near Braintree in Essex BSW Marquees is a family business. We have been supplying traditional canvas and frame tent marquees in East Anglia, Hertfordshire and throughout south east England for over 40 years. We have supplied literally thousands of marquees to weddings, birthday parties, private functions and corporate events. If you have any questions or queries please get in touch. We like to talk about marquees.