Liquor Licence in Singapore: Which Class Your F&B Business Actually Needs

If your Singapore F&B business puts alcohol in front of a customer — a glass of wine with dinner, a beer at a hawker stall, a bottle handed over at the counter — you need a liquor licence from the Singapore Police Force. It is a separate application from your SFA food shop licence, it costs between $110 and $880 a year depending on class, and it takes about three weeks. The part that catches operators out is not the fee. It is picking the wrong class, and discovering after opening that your licence closes an hour before your kitchen does.

Here is what the primary sources actually say — the Act, the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department’s published fee table, and its licensing FAQ.

Do I actually need a liquor licence in Singapore?

Almost certainly yes. Section 4(1) of the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act 2015 makes it an offence to supply liquor in Singapore without a valid licence, and both of the operative words are broader than operators assume.

“Supply” is defined in the Act as selling, bartering or exchanging liquor, offering or agreeing to do so, or serving, sending, forwarding or delivering it in connection with such a sale — and it expressly includes causing or permitting liquor to be supplied. Notably, the definition captures a sale “whether the reward or consideration is received by the supplier specifically for the liquor or as part of services or other goods”. A set menu with a wine pairing is a supply of liquor even though the wine is not separately priced.

“Liquor” means any beverage containing more than 0.5% ethanol by mass or volume, or a mixture containing more than 0.5% ethanol — plus anything else the regulations prescribe as liquor. That threshold matters for the no-and-low category: many drinks marketed as “alcohol-free” sit at 0.5% or below and fall outside the definition, while a 0.5%-plus “low-alcohol” beer does not.

Section 4(2) carves out a short list of exemptions. A licence is not required for delivery only, to a person at their request, of liquor that person already owns or has ordered under a contract of purchase; in an emergency where liquor is needed to preserve life or prevent injury; or in the course of a religious service, ceremony or rite lawfully conducted by a priest or minister of religion in a place of worship. None of those help a restaurant.

Getting this wrong is expensive. Supplying liquor without a valid licence carries a fine of up to $20,000; a repeat offender faces a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment of up to three months, or both. Per the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department’s liquor licence FAQ, enhanced penalties of up to one and a half times the normal penalty apply where that offence is committed inside a Liquor Control Zone.

Which liquor licence class does my outlet need?

There are eight classes. Two questions decide yours: where the drink is consumed (on your premises, or elsewhere), and what you pour (all liquor, or beer only). Closing time follows from the class you pick, not the other way round.

Three practical readings of that table:

• The 1A/1B gap is $220 for two hours. Class 1B is $660 and stops at 2200hrs. Class 1A is $880 and runs to 2359hrs. If you take dinner bookings past 9pm, 1B will cost you more in turned-away last orders than the $220 you saved.
• Beer-only is a real saving, but it is a hard limit. Class 2A at $460 covers beer and nothing else. Adding a house wine later means applying for a Class 1 licence, not amending the one you hold.
• Class 5 must be consecutive. The FAQ is explicit that a Class 5 temporary licence must cover consecutive dates; a pop-up running two separate weekends needs two separate Class 5 licences.

If your published trading hours run past your licence class, you can apply to extend them, but the extension is priced by the hour: $4 per hour extended for periods of three months or more, and $22 per hour for periods under three months. Extensions do not renew automatically. The FAQ notes that a reminder letter goes out one month before a regular extension expires, but no reminder is sent for ad hoc extensions of under three months — those simply lapse.

What does the application involve, and how long does it take?

You apply through GoBusiness, signing in with Singpass or Corppass. The Police Licensing & Regulatory Department puts processing at approximately three weeks from receipt of the application, if all necessary supporting documents are enclosed. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are rejected rather than queried, so the three weeks restarts.

Have these ready before you start:

• An ACRA certificate — or a Registry of Societies certificate if you are applying on behalf of a society.
• NRIC or FIN (the latter for non-Singaporeans with a work permit) of the applicant company’s contact person.
• Approval from the land authority. This is the one that delays applications. Depending on your premises, that means HDB approval for the supply of liquor (public housing), planning permission from URA or SLA on the land use, or an NEA hawker licence if you are applying for a beer stall.

Two eligibility tests sit behind the paperwork. The applicant must be assessed as a fit and proper person against the criteria the Police publish, and the premises must be in a location suitable for the supply of liquor. That second test is a genuine risk on a new site: a location assessment is not something you can fix with a better form.

One more trap worth flagging early. The Police state plainly that the frameworks for the Public Entertainment licence and the liquor licence are separate, and that approval of one does not imply or guarantee approval of the other. If your concept involves live music or a DJ alongside the bar, you are running two applications on two sets of criteria, and either can fail on its own.

Renewals open within two months before expiry, through the “Due for Renewals” tab in your GoBusiness account. Put that date in the same calendar as your SFA food shop licence renewal, because nothing prompts you at the counter.

Can I sell alcohol for takeaway or delivery?

Not on a Class 1 or Class 2 licence. Those classes authorise supply for consumption at the licensed premises stated in the licence. Retail supply for consumption elsewhere is Class 3A (all liquor) or Class 3B (beer only), and wholesale is Class 4. A restaurant that wants to sell sealed bottles to walk-in customers is doing something its dine-in licence does not cover.

Delivery has its own rules, and they are more generous than most operators realise. Class 3A, 3B and 4 holders — including online-only liquor businesses — may deliver beyond their licensed trading hours if the delivery goes to a non-public place. The Police give examples: residential homes (but not common spaces such as void decks), private function rooms in privately owned premises such as condominiums, private rooms in hotels and country clubs, and office premises to which only employees have access.

The catch is where the order is taken. For licensed premises, orders for delivery to non-public places can only be taken on the premises during trading hours, even though the delivery itself may happen afterwards. A licence holder running an online business is treated differently: customers can order at any time, and after-hours delivery to non-public places is allowed.

Deliveries to public places are capped at the retail and wholesale trading hours — 0700 to 2230hrs daily, tightening inside a Liquor Control Zone to 0700–2230hrs on weekdays and 0700–1900hrs on weekends, public holidays and the eve of a public holiday.

If you sell online, note the age-verification duties that took effect on 2 January 2024 under regulation 11 of the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) (Liquor Licensing) Regulations 2015. A licensee and their employees must not supply liquor online or by telecommunication service to anyone under 18. When selling through your own channel, you must warn the customer that buying liquor under 18 is an offence and inform them of the penalty. When selling through a third-party e-commerce platform, you must not do so if you know or ought reasonably to know that the platform operator fails to take reasonable steps to verify age and to give those warnings. Breaching regulation 11 is an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $10,000.

That last point is the one to act on. The obligation does not disappear because a marketplace handles checkout — it makes your platform choice a compliance decision.

What rules apply once I am licensed?

The standing conditions are short, and they are the ones enforcement actually checks.

• Age. No supply of liquor to anyone under 18, no permitting consumption on the premises by anyone under 18, and waitresses under 17 may not be employed.
• Hours and premises. Supply only during your licensed trading hours, and only at the premises named in the licence. You cannot assign, lease or let the licensed premises.
• Notices. Required notices about age restrictions and trading hours must be displayed.
• Conduct. No supply to intoxicated persons, no permitting disorderly conduct, and the licence must be produced when authorities ask.

If you run an Outdoor Refreshment Area, the FAQ sets out a rule worth writing on the roster: liquor supply and consumption at the ORA is limited to the trading hours in your liquor licence or the time allowed for authorised use of the ORA, whichever is earlier. A 1A licence running to 2359hrs against an ORA authorised to 2300hrs means the alfresco tables stop at 2300hrs.

Separately from your licence, the Act restricts public drinking. Following the Ministry of Home Affairs’ commencement of the Act on 1 April 2015, consumption of liquor in public places is prohibited from 10.30pm to 7am daily. Two areas — Geylang and Little India — are designated Liquor Control Zones under section 15(1), carrying tighter trading hours and heavier penalties.

Breaches are dealt with by suspension of the licence for up to six months, cancellation, fines, or criminal charges for serious cases. You may appeal to the Liquor Appeal Board within 14 days of notice against a refusal to grant or renew, a change to your conditions, or a suspension or cancellation — but a decision on an application to extend trading hours is not appealable, and the Board’s decision is final.

What should I get right before opening?

A short sequence that avoids most of the pain:

1. Settle the land approval first. URA/SLA planning permission or HDB approval gates the whole application. Confirm the premises can lawfully supply liquor before you sign the lease, not after.
2. Pick the class against your real closing time. Work backwards from last orders. If that is after 2200hrs, 1B is the wrong licence.
3. Decide the takeaway question now. Bottle sales, retail shelves or an online store need a Class 3 licence in addition to your dine-in class. Adding it later is a new application, not an amendment.
4. Apply about six weeks out. Three weeks is the processing estimate for a complete file; leave room for one rejection.
5. Make the hours and age rules operational. The rules bind at the counter, not in the folder. Whatever POS you run, it is worth setting your alcohol items up so staff have an unambiguous cut-off time and a prompt to check ID — and keeping takeaway alcohol on separate items from dine-in, so your sales records line up with the licence classes you actually hold.
6. Diary the renewal. The window opens two months before expiry, and extensions of under three months lapse with no reminder at all.

The honest summary: the liquor licence is one of the cheaper line items in opening an F&B outlet in Singapore, and one of the easiest to get structurally wrong. The fee is not the decision. The class is — because it silently sets your closing time, your ability to sell a bottle across the counter, and how much a change of mind will cost you a year in.

Frequently asked questions