For private party hire, no.

For “commercial” hire, where you charge for your class or event, and use recorded or live music, probably.

The Music Licence collects fees for both PRS and PPL.

PRS (Performing Rights Society – which pays the people who own the music) is tied to the building, and the hall pays for a PRS licence which covers all users of the building.

PPL (Public Performance Licence/Phonographic Performance Limited – which pays the people who perform the music) is tied to the user.  As trustees we only hire out the rooms and do not use them ourselves and so do not need a PPL licence.  Even if we did need a PPL licence, e.g. for running our own fund raising events, that licence would not cover our users, and all users who are liable for a PPL licence are responsible for obtaining their own.  Consult The Music Licence to find the PPL tariff relating to your activity.  Unfortunately it is very complicated.

The formal PPL wording for the PPL licence (PPLPP116) which the hall might hold excludes: “any third party hire to commercial organisations and individuals earning an income from providing the activity such as aerobics classes, practice and social dance classes/sessions or any event where the profit does not go entirely to the voluntary organisation…