Rank in its class
San Francisco County · Type 48 · On-Sale General, Public Premises
San Francisco Type 48 Liquor License SF-3001
One license, asking $260,000, the license only, with no premises, no lease, no fixtures, no goodwill and no stock.
$260,000Asking price
AvailableStatus
34 daysOn market
$8,045Cost to close, on top
The listing
SF-3001 in figures
Everything we publish about this license, in one place. What is not here is not masked or blurred, it is released to a qualified buyer under NDA, and that is set out further down.
| Our reference | SF-3001 |
|---|---|
| Asking price | $260,000 |
| Status | Available |
| Date listed | 10 August 2026 |
| Days on market | 34 days |
| License class | Type 48, On-Sale General, Public Premises |
| County | San Francisco, California |
| Included in the price | The license and nothing else |
| Cost to close, on top | About $8,045 |
| Transfer time | Varies with the file |
Price, availability and days on market for SF-3001 are reviewed weekly and were last checked on 13 September 2026. Go to the inquiry form to tell the desk what you are opening.
What changes hands
What $260,000 buys, and what it does not
A license sale is narrower than a business sale, and the difference is the whole reason the price reads the way it does. This is the line, item by item.
| The Type 48 license itself | Included. Transferred into your name when ABC approves the transfer and issues the license. |
|---|---|
| Premises, lease or any right of occupation | Not included. You bring the room. This is the license alone. |
| Fixtures, fit-out and sound system | Not included. Nothing physical changes hands. |
| Goodwill, trade or a business | Not included. There is no business attached to this license. |
| Stock | Not included. |
| Costs to close | On top. About $8,045, itemized further down this page. |
| Our commission | Paid by the seller. our fee, quoted in writing before we start, at closing. No buyer-side fee. |
There is no premises in this sale, so there is nothing to view. What you are buying is the right to pour in a room you bring, once the transfer is approved and the license is issued in your name.
Where this one sits
SF-3001 against the rest of the San Francisco book
The useful question about any asking price is what else you could buy for the money. Here is the answer for this license, read off our own current book of 30 rather than off a market report.
Rank on the whole book
Joint 8th of 30
Against the Type 47 median
+$27,500
The Type 47 range
$135,000 – $350,000
There is no band to quote for a Type 48 here, because there is one of them. A range needs a second license to have a range between, and on this class in this county we do not have one. So rather than dress a single data point up as a market, the comparison above is against the classes that do have depth.
This license does not do more than a Type 47. It does less. Same drinks, on the same premises, but with no kitchen obligation, and with a door that is closed to anyone under 21. It asks $27,500 above the Type 47 median for one reason, and that reason is supply: one or two Type 48s trade here in a year while 18 Type 47s sit on this book at once.
What would move this price. The same three things that move any on-sale license in this city, the condition of the register file, the petition conditions attached to the license, and whether the seller is under time pressure. Which of the three is doing the work on any given licence is something the released file answers.
What we will not do is manufacture competition for it. There is no countdown on this page, no bid ticker and no watcher count. If another party is ahead of you we will say so, and if nobody is, we will say that too. The only activity signals on this page are the day it came to our book and the 34 days it has been on the market, because they are the only two we can stand behind.
Ranks, medians and ranges are computed from our own current San Francisco book of 30 licenses on 13 September 2026, and restated whenever the book changes.
The privilege
What a Type 48 lets you do, and what it does not
| Class | Type 48, On-Sale General, Public Premises |
|---|---|
| In plain English | A bar or nightclub. The full range of drinks for consumption on the premises, with no requirement to feed anyone. |
| What you may pour | Beer, wine and distilled spirits |
| Food obligation | None. This is the whole reason the class exists and the reason drinks-led rooms want it. |
| Minors | Persons under 21 may not enter and remain. This is a hard rule, not a door policy, and it rules out families, all-ages events and most daytime trade. |
| Hours | California permits sale from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. A San Francisco Type 48 often sits alongside an Entertainment Commission permit if the room puts on live music or extended-hours events, a separate application on a separate calendar. |
| Quota status | Quota class. San Francisco is over the county ceiling for on-sale general licenses, so no new original issues. |
| Moving it to another address | A premises-to-premises transfer inside San Francisco County is possible with ABC approval and a fresh 30-day posting, and a drinks-led use attracts local attention. Moving a quota license out of the county is generally not available. |
| Local approval | Separate from ABC, and on this class usually the longer half. A conditional use may be required in your Neighborhood Commercial District, the Police Department’s alcohol liaison reviews the application, and an entertainment use is its own permit again. |
| Offer handling | Offers reviewed as received. With one on the book we will tell you plainly if another party is ahead of you, and we will not manufacture one. |
This table summarizes the class from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s own definitions and from how San Francisco files actually run. It is a summary, not a quotation, and it is not legal advice, the conditions on this individual license override the general picture, and you will see them when the file is released to you.
Beyond the price
What completing on SF-3001 actually costs
The asking price is not the cost of the deal. Here is the rest of it, against this license’s $260,000 ask.
Three columns. On a narrow screen the table scrolls sideways inside its own box, the page does not.
| Item | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Escrow fee | Licensed escrow holder, as Bus. & Prof. Code §24074 requires | $1,450 |
| ABC person-to-person transfer fee | California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control | $1,250 |
| Notice of intended transfer, published | Newspaper of general circulation in San Francisco | $385 |
| Live Scan and fingerprinting, two principals | California Department of Justice, via ABC | $160 |
| Buyer’s counsel, ABC transfer work | Your attorney | $4,800 |
| Costs to close | Excluding the license price | $8,045 |
| SF-3001 plus costs to close | $260,000 + $8,045 | $268,045 |
- The whole price goes into escrow, not a deposit. This is the part that surprises buyers coming from other states. California requires the full consideration for a license transfer to be placed with a licensed escrow holder before the transfer is approved, and it is released to the seller only on issue. There is no 10% and no balance on completion.
- Conditional use, where San Francisco requires it. A change of license or a new alcohol use in many of the city’s Neighborhood Commercial Districts needs Conditional Use Authorization from the Planning Commission before ABC will act. Budget $3,000 to $8,000 and three to five months for that track, and treat it as separate from the figures above. It is the single largest source of San Francisco timetable slippage.
- After you hold it: the ABC annual renewal on a San Francisco on-sale general license runs about $1,400, and about $700 on an off-sale.
- Our commission: our fee, quoted in writing before we start, paid by the seller at closing. There is no buyer-side fee, no registration fee and no charge for the confidential file once you are qualified.
- Financing: a license is not mortgageable the way real property is, and most California lenders will not lend against one alone. We work with two lenders who underwrite license transfers as part of a wider fit-out facility and will make an introduction.
Fee amounts are our current working figures for a San Francisco file and were last checked on 13 September 2026. The escrow requirement, the conditional-use track and the renewal bands are described from practice rather than quoted from a fee schedule, confirm the current ABC fee schedule and your Planning district before you sign anything.
The timetable
What happens after you offer on SF-3001
Six stages from an accepted offer to a license in your name. Thirty of those days are a statutory posting that nobody can shorten.
1
Offer accepted, escrow opened
7 days. A purchase agreement, then escrow with a licensed escrow holder. California requires the full consideration to sit in escrow before the Department will approve the transfer, so this is the point your money moves, not completion day.
2
Buyer qualification and application
10 days. The person-to-person transfer application, Live Scan fingerprinting for every principal, and proof of funds. This is also when the mutual NDA is signed and the confidential file, license number, licensee of record, premises address, term, encumbrances, tax position, is released to you.
3
Public notice posted at the premises
30 days. ABC posts the application at the premises for 30 days, and the notice of intended transfer is published in a newspaper of general circulation. The 30 days are statutory and cannot be shortened, whatever anyone promises you.
4
Protest period and local agency review
14 days. Any protest filed during the posting is worked through here, and this is where San Francisco can add time: the Police Department’s alcohol liaison reviews on-sale applications, and a Planning conditional use, if your district needs one, runs on its own much longer calendar.
5
ABC investigation and approval
10 days. The investigator confirms the premises, the qualification of the buyer and the tax position of the seller. Clean files clear here without anyone hearing from anyone.
6
Escrow closes, license issued in your name
7 days. Approval issued, escrow released to the seller, license recorded against you. You can trade.
Stage day counts are the medians from our own closed California files and add to . The 30-day posting is a statutory period; the rest is how San Francisco files actually run.
Released when you qualify
The license number and the address are not on this page
Not masked, not blurred, not shown in part. They are simply not published, for any license, anywhere on this site. A seller is almost always still trading. In a city where a neighborhood and a license class narrow a business to a handful of doors, publishing either one tells their staff, their landlord and the operator across the street that they are selling. So the shop window carries everything you need to shortlist, and nothing that identifies the seller.
Published on this page
- County and city
- License class and what it permits
- Whether the class is under the county quota
- Asking price and availability
- Date listed and days on market
- Cost to close and the transfer timetable
Released after qualification and NDA
- License number and licensee of record
- Premises address and trading name
- Register standing and license term
- Conditions, encumbrances and lien position
- Seller tax clearance position
- Local approval history and any protest record
How the release works. Qualification is two things: proof of funds, and the personal information every principal has to give ABC anyway. Sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement and the complete file is released to you within one business day. There is no fee for it. Four further San Francisco licenses are held entirely off-market at the seller’s request and are only ever shown this way, they are not among the 30 on the book.
This is the reason to inquire rather than to keep reading. Everything that decides whether SF-3001 is right for your room, the conditions attached to it, the state of the register file, where it currently sits, is in that file, and none of it can go on a public page. Start at the inquiry form.
Activity, honestly
Dates, yes. Counters, no.
SF-3001 carries the day it came to market, 10 August 2026, and how long it has sat there, 34 days. Those are facts we can stand behind. What you will not find anywhere on this site:
- No view count. A view count is trivially inflated and proves nothing about demand.
- No watcher count and no “3 people are looking at this right now”.
- No bid ticker, no auction clock, no countdown. Offers are reviewed as they arrive.
- No manufactured scarcity. The county quota supplies all the scarcity this market needs.
We would rather publish the one activity signal that is checkable, the day a license came to our book, and how long it has sat there, and nothing we cannot stand behind.
About license SF-3001, San Francisco Type 48, $260,000. The reference travels with this form; you do not need to type it.
Type 48 · SF-3001
Inquire about SF-3001
Seven fields, and the reference is already filled in. We reply inside one business day, from a named person, with the next step and nothing else. No newsletter, no drip sequence, no call center.
You will get a straight answer on whether SF-3001 is still available, the qualification pack, and two call slots. If the room you describe would be better served by another class, we will say so before anything else.
Prefer to talk? The direct line is (800) 799-9081, or write to mike@liquorlicenseagents.com.
Inquiring commits you to nothing, and there is no buyer-side fee. Signed NDA in, the complete file on this license out within one business day.
Who you are dealing with
The desk handling this transfer
Broker
Liquor License Agents
Files closed
California transfers
Escrow held by
A licensed escrow holder
ABC counsel
San Francisco ABC counsel
Escrow on this transfer is held by a licensed escrow holder, never by us, as Bus. & Prof. Code §24074 requires. We assert no registration or licensure of our own beyond the brokerage and application work described on this page.
If this is not the right license
The other San Francisco classes
Tell us the room and we will tell you the class. Four classes hold resale stock on this book; two hold none right now and are reached by an application we run for you.
Type 47, 18 on the book
Type 21, 10 on the book
Type 48, 1 on the book
Type 20, 1 on the book
Type 41, by application
Type 40, by application
Type 41 (On-Sale Beer and Wine, Eating Place) and Type 40 (On-Sale Beer) have no resale stock on our San Francisco book right now. Both have a page of their own setting out the application route, and we handle those applications.