The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee & the Extension to Licensing Hours in England & Wales 

This year marks a first in the history of the British Monarchy as on the 6th February, the Queen became the first British Monarch to serve for 70 years. Events will be held throughout the year to honour the occasion, but for most of us the most significant of these will be a four day Bank Holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd June – Sunday 5th June. 

Parliament has recognised the need to support celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and so in April, agreed to extend licensing hours in pubs, bars and clubs from 11pm to 1am on the 2nd – 4th June. License holders will need to abide by their existing license conditions during the additional hours. 

A national extension to licensing hours was possible because of a power contained in the Licensing Act 2003 that allows the Secretary of State to make a ‘licensing hours order’ relaxing the opening hours of licenses where there was an occasion of ‘exceptional national significance’.  Without this, many premises licensed to sell alcohol would have need to make an application to their Local Authority for a ‘Temporary Events Notice’ to extend the hours they sold alcohol which would have been a costly and timely exercise for all involved. If you own a license premises, hold a personal license or are a Designation Premises Supervisor, please contact the advice line if you need any more information. 

Whether you are involved in the hospitality trade, or simply looking forward to a long weekend full of festivities, we wish you a pleasant Bank Holiday weekend.