HUNDREDS of pubs, restaurants and take-aways across the borough could be forced to close their doors for up to two months.

Town hall bosses are warning that many landlords and proprietors risk missing out on new licenses by leaving their applications until the last minute.

Under new licensing laws designed to liberalise the system, all establishments that sell alcohol or hot food will have to apply to renew their permits by August 6 or cease trading in November.

But licensing bosses say the complexity of the forms which have to be filled in has raised fears that many applications will have to be returned to landlords because of mistakes.

This, in turn, is expected to cause many establishments to miss the deadline - leaving them without a licence for up to eight weeks.

It comes after an expected deluge of applications failed to materialise after the opening day for licence renewals on February 7.

Just nine applications have so far been received by the council, six of which could not be processed because of errors.

Andrew Fisher, group manager of the licensing unit at Bolton Council, urged businesses to submit their applications while his officers had the time to help them complete the forms correctly.

He said: "If people leave it to the last minute, there is no doubt that many businesses are going to be left without licenses to trade.

"We expect to be inundated with applications near to the deadline and those who miss out will go to the back of the queue and dealt with after the hundreds of other applications have been processed.

"But if people get their applications in now then we will be able to advise them on how to fill them in so they are processed in time."

Around 800 pubs, bars, clubs, take aways and restaurants will have to renew their applications under the rule changes along with almost 200 take aways.

It is thought that many owners of businesses are delaying their applications to put back the date when they will be required to pay the annual renewal fee.