What happens to a liquor licence if there's a gap between the old owner leaving and the new one being approved?

If a new owner's liquor licence approval isn't in place by the time the sale closes and the seller's licence stops applying, there can be a real gap where the business legally cannot serve alcohol at all, which for many bars and restaurants is close to a gap where the business can't meaningfully operate. This is one of the most common and most avoidable problems in a hospitality business sale, and it's almost always caused by treating the licensing application as something to start after the deal is agreed, rather than as a critical path item running in parallel with the rest of the transaction.

Structuring the timeline to avoid this gap usually means starting the licensing application well before the target closing date, keeping the closing conditional on approval (or at least on confirmation that service can continue without interruption), and, in a share sale, understanding that the existing licensed corporation may be able to keep operating through the ownership change if the transition is reported correctly, which can avoid a hard stop entirely.

Because the regulator's own timelines and requirements aren't something a purchase agreement can control, building flexibility and a real contingency plan into the deal is essential rather than optional.