Non-Liquor Licenses

The License Commission has authority to issue Entertainment Licenses (Sunday through Saturday) to an already licensed premise. If you are not a licensed premise and would like to conduct a theatrical exhibition, a public show, public amusements and/or exhibitions of every description, please use the Mayoral Entertainment License page. 

Requirements

• If you are the holder of any type of license through the Northampton License Commission, and would like to conduct entertainment at your licensed premise, you are required to obtain an entertainment license.
• An entertainment license is required to conduct the following types of entertainment:
  • a DJ
  • karaoke
  • live or recorded bands
  • live or recorded music
  • the use of an amplification system
  • dancing by patrons, entertainers or performers
  • a theatrical exhibition, play, or moving picture show
  • a floor show of any description
  • a light show of any description
  • any other dynamic audio or visual show, whether live or recorded

Entertainment licenses issued by the License Commission are governed by MGL Ch. 140 §183A.

• Entertainment License Application (PDF)

Fees

Entertainment licenses are issued on an annual basis with an $80 fee.

Requirement

Automatic Amusement Device licenses are required for any coin operated amusement device, i.e. pinball games, video games and pool tables.

MGL Ch. 140 §177A, "The term ''automatic amusement device'' as used in this section shall be construed as meaning any mechanism whereby, upon the deposit therein of a coin or token, any apparatus is released or set in motion or put in a position where it may be set in motion for the purpose of playing any game involving, in whole or in part, the skill of the player, including, but not exclusively, such devices as are commonly known as pinball machines including free play pinball machines, but not including slot machines as defined in chapter 23K."

• Automatic Amusement Device Application (PDF)

Fee

Automatic Amusement Device licenses are issued on an annual basis with a fee of $65 per machine.

Requirement

Innholder licenses are required for hotel establishments and bed-and-breakfasts. Hotel is defined as a hotel, motel, resort, boarding house, or inn, which is kept, used or advertised as, or held out to the public to be, a place where sleeping or housekeeping accommodations are supplied for pay to guests for transient occupancy. 

Per the City of Northampton's zoning ordinance, a bed-and-breakfast is defined as an owner-occupied single-family dwelling which may rent up to a maximum of three rooming units for transient occupancy, not to exceed a total of six renters (without individual kitchen facilities and with an individual or shared bath/toilet facility, with at least one toilet, one bath/shower and one wash basin, separate from those required for the single-family dwelling), which share a common entrance for the single-family dwelling. The use of that portion of the dwelling devoted to transient occupancy shall be secondary to the use of the dwelling as a single-family residence and shall not change the character thereof. 

Innholder licenses are governed by MGL Ch. 140.

• Innholder License Application (PDF)

Fee

Innholder licenses are issued on an annual basis with a $50 fee.

Requirement

Lodging house licenses are required when lodgings are let to 4 or more persons not within second degree of kindred to the person conducting it, and shall include fraternity houses and dormitories of educational institutions, but shall not include dormitories of charitable or philanthropic institutions or convalescent or nursing homes, or rest homes, or group residences licensed or regulated by agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Lodging house licenses are governed by MGL Ch. 140. 

• Lodging House Application (PDF)

Fee

Lodging house licenses are issued on an annual basis with a fee of $50.