Further to our previous article on this, Parliament has passed an Order to extend licensing hours in pubs, clubs and bars across England and Wales from 2300hrs to 0100hrs the following morning on Thursday 2nd June, Friday 3rd June and Saturday 4th June; to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It will provide the opportunity for people to continue their celebrations of this tremendous event over the Bank Holiday.
The Order will apply to premises already licensed until or after 2300 for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises, for the provision of late night refreshment (only where there is also the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises) in England and Wales. This, therefore, would not apply to takeaways who only had late night refreshment on their premises licence, and does not apply at all to premises in Scotland. It should be noted that these extra hours are subject to their existing licence conditions.
Those that have looked in detail at the Order including its Explanatory Note will note that it is silent in relation to regulated entertainment. This is in contrast to the Explanatory Memorandum and Draft Explanatory Memorandum that specifically mention its application to regulated entertainment. To that end, our interpretation of the Order that has been made and came into force on 4 May 2022, is that it would allow for the extension of licensing hours for all licensable activities that were already on the premises licence and were already licensed until or after 2300.
As the Order was passed to delegated committees in the Lords and Commons to debate, there are no records of the comment on Hansard for the final Order that was passed. However, having looked back at the Hansard scripts of 25th April 2022 in relation to the Draft Order and the Explanatory Memorandums, it confirms that regulated entertainment was very much deemed to be covered in the Order. The Hansard script also confirms that the Order was not to apply to Take-Aways, Off Licences or Supermarkets.
As per our previous article, should it be felt that you require longer hours than 0100, then please do reach out to the Woods Whur Team in order to submit a Temporary Event Notice for this. Again, by way of reminder, a standard TEN requires 10 working days notice, and a late TEN at least 5 working days notice. With the event now being under one month away, we urge you to let us have the relevant details should you wish to apply for any TENs.
Please see the link to the passed Order – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/504/note/made