Institute pays tribute to Charles Holland

The Institute of Licensing pays tribute to IoL Fellow Charles Holland, who sadly passed away on Sunday 9 February.

Charles was a significant figure in UK licensing law, described as the “licensing lawyer’s licensing lawyer and barrister that other barristers turn to when facing a particularly tricky or novel legal issue.”

Charles was well known nationally as a specialist licensing advocate and has acted in a large number of licensing applications relating to a wide range of venues and events, including high profile matters such as the Newcastle Carling Academy, the Birmingham Carling Academy, Darlington FCs stadium, the York Barbican Centre, the Sage Gateshead international music centre and the HiFi Northfestival.

Charles had a near encyclopaedic knowledge of the law of licensing, distinguishing himself among the very best and devoted countless hours to furthering the Institute through his work with Leo Charalambides as a Deputy Editor of the Journal of Licensing and as a frequent contributor at Institute events.

He was awarded the IoL Fellowship at the Institute’s Gala dinner in 2024. The IoL’s Fellowship is exclusively reserved for individuals who have made exceptional contributions to licensing. 

Institute Vice Chair, Gary Grant, paid tribute to Charles, saying:

“Charles was the licensing lawyer’s licensing lawyer. He was the barrister that other barristers turned to when facing a particularly tricky or novel legal issue, and this was for two reasons. Firstly, because he had the supreme ability to wield his near encyclopaedic knowledge of the law of licensing, blended with a deep familiarity of so many other legal fields, to find creative and novel solutions to seemingly intractable problems. 

Secondly, and just as importantly, because he unfailingly displayed a generosity of spirit to pause his own work to help his less knowledgeable or gifted enquiring colleagues. He was kind, decent, loyal, funny and self-deprecating. In court, he played hard but always with a straight bat. The world of licensing will be the poorer without him. His innumerable friends and colleagues in the licensing firmament will miss him very much. We have lost a star. May his memory be a blessing.”