In
England and
Wales these are the hours during which a licensed premises may sell
intoxicating liquor:
11am until 11pm, Monday to Saturday
12pm until 10:30pm, Sunday and Good Friday
12pm until 3pm and 7pm until 10:30pm, Christmas Day
Extensions to these hours are available by way of:
- Supper Hours Certificate : The premises must have a restuarant or dining area, this adds another hour onto permitted hours, execpt for Christmas Day. If there is live entertainment available the licensee may apply for an Extended Hours Order, allowing opening until 1am Monday to Satuday and 12:30 on Sundays.
- Special Hours Certificate : If a licenced premises provides meals, entertainment and dancing, they may be granted opening until 2am (3am in London), Monday to Saturday (and Sundays before a Bank Holiday) and 12:30am on Sundays. The premises must also hold a Public Entertainments Licence.
Some public houses are situated in the area of a public
market or where a particular
trade is carried on outside of normal permitted hours. Such pubs may be granted a General Order of Exemption adding to permitted hours. The most famous example of this is the pub in
Covent Garden Market, which until recently, was open 24 hours a day.
It is worth noting that Scotland recently scrapped permitted hours and now works on a case by case basis for opening hours. Although this has proved successful in limiting the 11pm flashpoint for violence (when all the pubs close at the same time, drunken violent crime is common place), incidences of other drink related issues (alcoholism and drink related crime for example) have remained at about the same level.