Opening a second site is one of the most common ways to grow. It is also easy to assume that everything you set up for your first site covers the new one. Many things do not. Licences, registrations, business rates and risk assessments usually apply to a particular building, so each new site needs its own.
Check the building can be used for your business
Before you sign a lease or buy a property, check that its planning use allows what you want to do there. A shop unit that was an office, or a warehouse you want to open to customers, may need planning permission for a change of use.
Get licences and registrations for the new site
A premises licence covers one set of premises. If you sell alcohol, serve hot food or drink late at night, or put on regulated entertainment at the new site, you need a premises licence for it, even if your first site already has one.
If you handle food at the new site, register it as a separate food business establishment with the council for the area it is in, before you start trading there.
Check whether anything else you hold is tied to your first address, such as a street trading consent, a waste permit or a sector licence, and apply for what the new site needs.
Business rates on the new site
Each property is valued and rated separately, so the new site will have its own business rates bill. Taking on another property can also change the relief you get on your first one. Small business rate relief depends on the rateable value of each of your other properties and on the total rateable value of all of them, and you may keep your existing relief for a set period after you take on the new property.
Fire safety, health and safety, and insurance
Each site needs its own fire risk assessment, because the risks depend on the building and how you use it. Carry it out before you open. In England and Wales you must record it in writing. You also need a health and safety risk assessment for the work done at the new site, and first aid arrangements for the people working there.
Tell your insurer about the new site before you open and check that your policies cover it. If you employ people there, you must display your employers' liability insurance certificate where they can easily see it, or make it easy for them to access electronically. See employers' liability insurance.
Before you open
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Confirm planning use
Check the use class, and get planning permission for a change of use if you need it.
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Apply for licences in good time
Apply for any premises licence and other licences the new site needs well before opening. Licence applications can take weeks and may attract objections.
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Register food premises
Register the new site with the local council if you handle food there.
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Set up business rates
Tell the local council when you take on the property, and check how the new site affects any rates relief on your existing sites.
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Complete risk assessments
Carry out a fire risk assessment and a health and safety risk assessment for the new site. Record the fire risk assessment in England and Wales, and record the significant findings of the health and safety assessment if you have 5 or more employees.
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Update your insurance
Add the new site to your policies and display your employers' liability certificate there.
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Display your company name
If your business is a company, display its registered name at the new site where visitors can easily see it.
Legal basis
Primary legislation and key regulations