Following a career as a criminal barrister and specialist in personal injury law, Andy Grimsey joined Poppleston Allen in 2004 and has specialised in licensing law ever since.

He co-wrote the Live Music Act 2012, attending and providing advice to Lord Clement-Jones in debates in the House of Lords, and subsequently assisting the Bill’s passage through the Commons.

Andy was a member of the Government’s Live Music Special Guidance and Entertainment Licensing Reform Technical Groups and was heavily involved in re-drafting the regulated entertainment chapter of the Statutory Guidance.

Andy wrote the chapter on Premises Licences in Philip Kolvin KC’s Licensed Premises: Law, Practice and Policy (Second Edition) and has been the Editor of Poppleston Allen’s legal column in the Morning Advertiser for over a decade.

He has been quoted in national media including Sky News, the Daily Mirror and Radio 4. He also appeared as an expert legal witness to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Licensing Act in 2017.

Andy is a regular speaker at licensing conferences, including the Institute of Licensing’s National Training Conference, having covered such diverse topics as insolvency, shadow licences, entertainment deregulation and the future of pavement licensing.

He has appeared in licensing hearings at over 100 different licensing authorities across England and Wales, dealing with difficult applications in cumulative impact areas, reviews and summary reviews involving the most serious violent and sexual offences and complex, multi-faceted festival applications.

In 2022 Andy helped the Birmingham Commonwealth Games obtain several of their Premises Licences and more recently assisted the iconic music venue at Milton Keynes Bowl obtain a new 69,000 capacity premises licence.

Andy works closely with event organisers to ensure their Event Management Plans are thorough and robust enough to withstand the scrutiny of the Safety Advisory Group and, if necessary, the licensing sub-committee.