Liquor licences 2025
DfC
2026-06-15
Liquor Licences in Northern Ireland
2025
An
Official Statistics
publication
Published by: Analytics Division,
Department for Communities
Frequency: Annual
Publication Date: 30 July 2026
Key points
- At the 31st of December 2025, there were 1,109 liquor licences for public houses. A decrease of 7% from 2021 (1,192).
- Of the local government districts, Newry, Mourne and Down had the highest number of liquor licences for public houses (162), however Fermanagh and Omagh had the highest number of licences per 10,000 population (11.1).
- The split of liquor licences for public houses between rural and urban locations was 48% rural and 52% urban.
- Of the district electoral areas, Botanic (Belfast) had the highest number of liquor licences for public houses (58). However, the highest concentration of public house liquor licences was in The Moor (Derry City and Strabane) with 23.4 licences per 10,000 population.
- At the 31st of December 2025, there were 692 liquor licences for off-licences, an increase of 55 from 2021.
Introduction
This is the fifth publication providing the number of liquor licences in Northern Ireland. Legislation passed by the NI Assembly specified that the Department for Communities (DfC) must publish information on the number of liquor licences held by off-licences and public houses annually. It further specified that data in relation to public houses should be available at the District Electoral Area (DEA) level.
This publication includes information on:
- Number of liquor licences by public house by various geographies
- Number of liquor licences by off-licence
Data in relation to liquor licences was provided to DfC by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS). The NICTS holds data on the number of liquor licences that are held in Northern Ireland by types of premises.
More information relating to the data, definitions and the interpretations of the figures can be found in the Definitions and technical notes section, and in the Background and Quality Report(BQR), and Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) document found on the publication webpage.
Data tables are available in Excel and ODS format on the publication web page.
Lead Statistician: Krisztina Gode
Overall number of liquor licences
Chart 1: Overall number of liquor licences
As of the 31 December 2025, there were 1,109 liquor licences for public houses in Northern Ireland. This shows an overall 7% decrease in the number since 2021 (1,192). The trend line in Chart 1 shows there was a sharp decline from 2021 to 2022 (from 1,192 to 1,088), followed by a slight recovery (1,108 in 2023), and then a broadly stable trend from 2023 to 2025.
There were 692 liquor licences for off-licences in Northern Ireland as of the 31 December 2025. This continues the upward trend over the previous four years (637 in 2021, rising to 678 in 2024) and presents an overall 8.6% increase between 2021 and 2025.
Liquor licences for public houses - by urban/rural
Chart 2: Liquor licences for public houses - by urban/rural
Just over half, 52%, of liquor licences held by public houses are located in areas classified as urban, with the remaining 48% in areas classified as rural. This urban/rural split has remained fairly consistent over the five years data is available. For context, the 2021 Census showed that over three-fifths (61%) of the population lived in urban areas at the time of the Census (1,165,168 in urban areas compared with 738,007 in rural and mixed areas).
Liquor licences for public houses - by multiple deprivation measure
Chart 3: Liquor licences for public houses - by multiple deprivation measure
There is a higher concentration of liquor licences for public houses in more deprived areas. Just over a third, 35%, of liquor licences held by public houses are located in areas within the most deprived quintile based on the 2017 Multiple Deprivation Measure (MDM). Just over a quarter, 26%, are located in areas within the second most deprived quintile based on MDM. One in twenty (5%) liquor licences held by public houses are located in areas within the least deprived quintile based on MDM. This breakdown is similar to that observed in the previous four years for which data is available (2021-24).
For context, the 2021 Census showed that the Northern Ireland population is more evenly split across deprivation quintiles with 18.8% of the population living in the most deprived areas and 19.1% living in least deprived areas.
Liquor licences for public houses by Local Government District (LGD)
Map 1: Liquor licences for public houses by Local Government District (LGD)
Maps 1 and 2 indicate that a slightly different picture emerges when comparing the number of liquor licences and the rates per 10,000 population particularly in Belfast and Fermanagh and Omagh LGDs.
Map 1 shows the distribution of public house licences based on numbers only. Newry, Mourne and Down LGD contains the highest number of public house licences in Northern Ireland (162), with Belfast containing the second highest number (142). Fermanagh and Omagh is ranked fifth in terms of numbers of licences (131), and Lisburn and Castlereagh has the fewest public house licences (34).
Map 2: Liquor licences for public houses per 10,000 population by Local Government District (LGD)
However, Map 2 shows the distribution of public house licences across LGDs after accounting for differences in population size, using rates per 10,000 population.
Based on rates rather than counts, Fermanagh and Omagh had the highest concentration of licences for public houses in 2025 (11.1 licences per 10,000 population), despite having the fifth highest number of licences. In contrast, Belfast ranked second highest in terms of the number of licences but seventh when expressed as a rate (4.0 licences per 10,000 population). This highlights the effect of accounting for population size and indicates a greater concentration of public house licences in some rural areas.
Lisburn and Castlereagh had both the lowest rate of public house licences (2.2 per 10,000 population) and the fewest licences overall.
The highest and lowest concentrations of public house licences per 10,000 population have remained unchanged over the last five years, with Fermanagh and Omagh consistently having the highest rate, and Lisburn and Castlereagh consistently having the lowest rate.
Chart 4: Liquor licences for public houses by Local Government District (LGD) - urban / rural
While the earlier urban/rural split of public house licences showed that urban areas had a small majority of public house licences, Chart 4 shows that when looking at the profile of individual LGDs, six out of the 11 had a higher proportion of public house licences in rural areas.
Four LGDs have a higher percentage within areas classified as urban, and in one LGD there is an equal split of licences across rural and urban areas.
As expected and reflective of the population profile, almost all (99%) liquor licences held by public houses in Belfast are in areas classified as urban. This is the consistent with all years back to 2021 when reporting began.
In contrast, in both Mid Ulster and Fermanagh and Omagh the proportion of liquor licences held by public houses in rural areas is 69%, which is similar to the proportion of the population who live in rural areas in these LGDs, according to the 2021 Census (71% and 72% respectively).
Liquor licences for public houses by District Electoral Area (DEA)
Map 3: Liquor licences for public houses by District Electoral Area (DEA)
Similar to the analysis by LGD, a different picture emerges when the number of licences by DEA is compared with licences per 10,000 population.
DEAs with high and low numbers of licences were distributed across Northern Ireland, as shown in Map 3. The DEA with the highest number of liquor licences held by public houses is Botanic, in Belfast LGD, with 58. This is followed by The Moor, in Derry City and Strabane LGD, which has 40. There are no public houses holding a liquor licence in Lisburn South DEA (Lisburn and Castlereagh LGD) and Three Mile Water DEA (Antrim and Newtownabbey LGD), while there is only one public house holding a liquor licence in the following DEAs: Bangor West (Ards and North Down LGD), Killultagh (Lisburn and Castlereagh LGD), Knockagh (Mid and East Antrim LGD) and Lisnasharragh (Belfast LGD).
Between 2021 and 2025, the largest decrease in the number of liquor licences held by public houses was in Banbridge (Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon LGD), where the number decreased from 25 to 17, a fall of eight. This was followed by Newtownards (Ards and North Down LGD) where the number of licences decreased by seven from 15 to eight licences. In contrast, Lagan River (Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon LGD) saw an increase of three public houses over the same period (from seven to ten). Each of the following DEAs all saw an increase of two public house licences: Newry (Newry, Mourne and Down LGD) and The Glens (Causeway Coast and Glens LGD) both increased from 25 to 27; and Macedon (Antrim and Newtownabbey) increased from four to six.
There was a net decrease of 83 public house licences between 2021 and 2025. While 48 DEAs experienced a decrease in the number liquor licences held by public houses between 2021 and 2025 (ranging from one to eight licences), 12 DEAs saw an increase over the same period (ranging from one to three licences), and a further 20 DEAs experienced no change.
Map 4: Liquor licences per 10,000 population by District Electoral Area (DEA)
Map 4 shows the number of public house licences in each DEA per 10,000 population illustrates the more rural concentration of licences as already evidenced in relation to population size.
The DEA with the highest rate of liquor licences held by public houses per 10,000 of the population was The Moor (Derry City and Strabane LGD), with 23.4. This is followed by The Glens (Causeway Coast and Glens LGD) which has 15.6 and Sperrin (Derry City and Strabane LGD) which has 13.5. Both Lisburn South (Lisburn and Castlereagh LGD) and Three Mile Water (Antrim and Newtownabbey LGD) have no liquor licences held by public houses per 10,000 of the population. Lisnasharragh (Belfast LGD) has the next lowest concentration of liquor licences held by public houses per 10,000 of the population, with 0.3.
DEAs with the highest and lowest number of liquor licences held by public houses per 10,000 of the population have remained fairly similar since 2021 when reporting began.
Definitions and technical notes
Basis for publication
The Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 states that the Department for Communities must, as soon as reasonably practicable, publish a statement of each of the following at 31 December in the previous year:
- the number of licences in force for premises of a kind mentioned in Article 5(1)(a) of the Licensing Order;
- the number of licences in force for premises of a kind mentioned in Article 5(1)(b) of the Licensing Order;
- the number of premises of a kind mentioned in Article 5(1)(a) of the Licensing Order in each district electoral area or, if the Department considers that it is feasible to reckon the number of such premises by reference to smaller areas, in each of those areas;
- the trends which may be observed from the numbers referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c).
Premises under article 5(1)(a) are premises in which the business carried on under the licence is the business of selling intoxicating liquor by retail for consumption either in or off the premises i.e. public houses.
Premises under article 5(1)(b) are premises in which the business carried on under the licence is the business of selling intoxicating liquor by retail for consumption off the premises i.e. off-licences.
Assigning geographies
The Central Postcode Directory was used to map the address of the public house the licence relates to, as provided by NICTS, to higher geographies using postcodes. The data provided undergoes cleaning to assign postcodes to cases that are missing that information.
District Electoral Area (DEA)
There are a total of 80 DEAs across Northern Ireland. Ten of the eleven Local Government Districts have seven DEAs, while Belfast has a total of ten.
Urban/rural classification
The urban or rural classification of a public house has been determined by using the property postcode, the Central Postcode Directory and the Review of the Statistical Classification and Delineation of Settlements published by NISRA.
Deprivation
The data have been analysed by which deprivation quintile the public house is located in. This is estimated using the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 which is a weighted combination of seven domains of deprivation. Rank 1 indicates the most deprived Super Output Area (SOA), while rank 890 denotes the least deprived SOA. These are then grouped into ‘quintiles’, with the first quintile being the most deprived and the fifth quintile being the least deprived.
Licences per 10,000 population
By examining the number of liquor licences per 10,000 of population it is possible to take into account different populations across the various DEAs and LGDs. Since each DEA and LGD will have different population sizes, and they will also have a different number of public houses with a liquor licence, it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons across DEAs or LGDs simply by looking at overall numbers alone. As such, by calculating the rate of licences per 10,000 population, more appropriate comparisons can be made across the various geographies that this publication reports on. Rates are calculated using the most recent mid-year population estimates available. For this report that was the 2024 mid-year estimates.
Renewal of liquor licences
The Licensing (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 states that every five years, all licensed premises must renew their liquor licence. Licences expired on 30 September 2022. Applications to renew a licence must be submitted to the magistrate’s court by 9 August 2022. However, there may have been delays in applications being submitted, applications being granted or licence details being updated on to NICTS databases. As such, the number of liquor licences for public houses and off-licences as of 31 December 2022 may not be a true reflection of the number of liquor licences in force. This may account for some of the increase between 2022 and 2023.
Other notes
The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables: