Pubs have to submit their forms applying for a licence by 6 August

Local councils are taking over from magistrates as the issuers of licences and any pub or bar which does not reapply for its licence could be shut.

Authorities in Kent said they have only received about 20% of forms back.

One of the county's MPs has called for an extension to the deadline and said the system should not have changed.

An investigation by BBC Radio Kent discovered many landlords in the county had not yet completed the forms - which were sent out at the beginning of the year - because they have found them long and complicated.

Mick Murphy, landlord of the Eagle Inn in Dover, said: "It's a very big application form, 19 or 20 pages of information that is very repetitive and very complicated.

The form is needlessly bureaucratic and it's extremely expensive Hugh Robertson MP

"The main reason the form hasn't been sent back yet is because I want to get it right first time."

He said he was getting a consultancy to look at the form before he returned it, and thought others had done the same.

The licensing manager at Mr Murphy's local authority, Dover District Council, said he had received about 20% of forms while other councils and Kent Police reported similar figures.

Dover District Council is running seminars on how to complete the forms.

Hugh Robertson, Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, said: "The form is needlessly bureaucratic and it's extremely expensive."

He said he knew of pubs which had paid �5 for a licence under the previous system who were now being asked for hundreds of pounds.

Licensing Minister James Purnell said: "We're not going to delay the 6 August deadline as we believe that would just create greater confusion.

"If people submit their application well before 6 August it's a relatively simple process.

"If you are just converting an existing licence it's manageable - it's much simpler than a tax form."