Consultation Launch – Extension to Licensing Hours – UEFA Women’s Euro 2025

The Government has launched a public consultation on extending licensing hours for the upcoming UEFA Women’s Euro semi-finals and final.

The proposals

The government is consulting on whether to relax licensing hours across licensed premises in England and Wales to mark the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championships (Euro 2025) semi-finals and final, or whether to rely on the existing system of Temporary Event Notices (TENs) which gives the local police and environmental health officers a say in decisions on whether individual local premises should extend their licensing hours for a particular event, based on local circumstances.
The proposal is to extend licensing hours if the England women’s national football team and/or the Wales women’s national football team is successful in reaching the semi-finals and final of Euro 2025.
The government proposes to make a licensing hours Order under section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 which would contingently extend opening hours on the days of the semi-finals (22 and/or 23 July 2025) and the final (27 July 2025) so that they would end at 01:00 (i.e. early in the morning after the matches have taken place) rather than 23:00 on the day of the matches for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises.
The government has decided that, if it were to relax licensing hours nationally following this consultation, this would be contingent on England and/or Wales reaching the semi-finals, with a further extension applying in the event that either of these teams then reach the final. No extension would come into place on any date during the tournament should the aforementioned team/s not participate in those matches. If the aforementioned team/s reach the semi-final, but are unsuccessful in that match, the extension would only apply to the relevant semi-final match, and licensing hours would not then be extended for the final.
The government proposes that any national relaxation of licensing hours during the semi-finals and final would only apply to the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises, and would not apply to the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises (i.e. in supermarkets and off-licences) as anyone wishing to mark the occasion at home will be able to buy alcohol during normal shopping hours. Late-night refreshment venues, by definition, are already licensed to open late at night and would not benefit from a relaxation in licensing hours. We do not intend to extend licensing hours for the provision of regulated entertainment. It should also be noted that unlicensed premises would not benefit from a relaxation in licensing hours and would still need to give a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) to undertake licensable activities.
The purpose of the national relaxation of licensing hours during the Euro 2025 semi-finals and the final would be to enable all pubs and other on-trade premises to sell alcohol to people watching the relevant match(es) live.
The consultation asks for views on whether licensing hours should be relaxed during the semi-finals and the final of Women’s Euro 2025 if the conditions set out are met. The options presented in the consultation seek to enable pubs and other on-trade premises to sell alcohol throughout the duration of live matches with some additional time whilst balancing concerns about public order. Licensing hours would not be relaxed beyond 01:00. After these licensed hours, premises would not be able to sell alcohol under the licensing hours Order. However, premises may be able to allow customers to remain on the premises beyond the extended hours and could give a TEN if they wished to open later.
This licensing hours extension would apply to premises in England and Wales only. Licensing is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The consultation is open until 23 March 2025.