Relaxation of licensing hours for Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations 13/04/2016 update

We last updated on this a few days ago and we have just heard that the Government has considered responses to the consultation on relaxing licensing hours for the 90^th birthday of the Queen and has decided that, subject to parliamentary approval, it will extend the licensing hours for the Queen’s birthday as originally anticipated.

The draft Regulations can be viewed here: 'The Licensing Act 2003 (Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Licensing Hours) Order 2016'.

Essentially the extensions proposed will if passed into legislation, apply to premises with either a Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate that authorises the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises and does not relate to off sales. The extension will allow alcohol to be sold on 10 and 11 June until 1am the following morning on each occasion provided the premises licence or club premises certificate ordinarily authorises licensable activities on those dates until 23.00 hours. It also appears to relate to late night refreshment and regulated entertainment as long as the  premises are authorised for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises

This is however not the end of the matter. Parliamentary approval will be required and this process will begin with a meeting of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments to scrutinise the regulations.  The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Committee will also need to scrutinise the regulations and there will also need to be a debate in both Houses of Parliament!  At the moment, we do not have any details about the exact timings of these stages.  We cannot however see that this will be regarded controversially.

We will keep you updated.