The Hall is not licensed on a continuous basis for the sale of alcohol.  This means if alcohol is to be sold at any function permission needs to be sought from the appropriate authorities,

Under the the system which existed before 10 November 2005 the organiser of an event involving the sale of alcohol has to go to the local magistrates to get a one off licence known as an Occasional Permission to sell alcohol at an event.  The Occasional Permission could be valid for a maximum of 24 hours and cost £10.  Organisers could apply for several Occasional Permisions covering a three month period at the same flat-rate of £10.  If an event involved regulated public entertainment, the organiser had to go to the local authority to get permission.

The Licensing Act 2003 ("the Act") introduced with effect from 10 November 2005, a light touch system of permitted temporary activities to replace the old occasional licences and occasional permissions previously granted in connection with short-term alcohol and public entertainment licensing. 
The system involves an event organiser (the "premises user") giving a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) to the licensing authority and copying this to the police.

TENs can be used to authorise relatively small-scale ad hoc events held in or on any premises involving no more than 499 people at any one time.  The premises user must, no later than 10 working days before the day on which the event is to start, give duplicate copies of the notice to the relevant licensing authority, together with the fee of £21.  A copy of the notice must also be given to the relevant chief officer of police no later than 10 working days before the day on which the event is to start.  Anyone aged 18 or over can give a maximum of five TENs per calendar year.  Personal licence holders can give a maximum of fifty TENs per calendar year.  TENs are subject to other maximum limits, as set out below.

Each event covered by a TEN can last up to 96 hours and no more than twelve TENs can be given in respect of any particular premises in any  calendar year, subject to a maximum aggregate duration of the periods covered by TENs at any individual premises of 15 days in any year.  There must be a minimum of 24 hours between events notified by a premises user or associates of that premises user in respect of the same premises.

Provided that the criteria set out above are met, only the police may intervene to prevent an event covered by a TEN taking place or agree a modification of the arrangements for such an event and then only on crime prevention grounds

Applications for TENs can be downloaded and printed from http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Alcohol_entertainment/licensing_appforms/default.htm

The application form which comprises a six-page Notice together with six pages of Guidance Notes is available in MS Word and PDF formats.  MS Word versions can be downloaded and completed electronically while the PDF version can be downloaded and printed for completion by hand.

Any applicant for a TEN must be aged 18 or over.

A TEN must be received by the appropriate authorities at least ten (10) working days before the date of the function.  Please note for the purpose of TENs working days do not includes Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays, and Public Holidays.

The postal address for the local authority for the Charles Morris Hall is

TEMPORARY EVENT NOTICE
Licensing Department
District Council Offices
Civic Centre
St Peter's Street
ST ALBANS
AL1 3JE

Note: Experience in 2006 showed that a second class stamp is insufficient postage to cover the cost of sending the required two copies of the TEN to the local authority.

The postal address for the local police for the Charles Morris Hall is

TEMPORARY EVENT NOTICE
Licensing Department
St Albans Police Station
Victoria Street
ST ALBANS
AL1 3LJ

Alternatively you may wish to contact a licensee (i.e. a pub land-lord/lady) with a view to running a bar for your function.  As well as not having to complete the TEN this will save you the hassle of acquiring stock and glasses as well as organising staff to serve during your function.  A licensee will probably levy a charge for serving the TEN.

A copy of any TEN submitted in connection with a booking at the Hall must be delivered to the Booking Officer no later than one week before the date of the booking to which it applies.