Longer licensing hours? We can all drink to that
Sam Bidwell says three cheers for new laws to make it easier to extend licensing hours so pubs and hospitality venues can stay open for longer
Slowly but surely, Westminster seems to be waking up to the idea that we can’t avoid the big questions forever.
After years of collective head-burying, there is now a greater willingness than ever to address the structural flaws in our economy – sluggish growth, mounting debt, soaring fiscal obligations. Though political leeway is limited, I have been heartened by the increasing willingness of politicians and commentators alike to tell hard truths about where we are as a nation.
But as we grapple with those existential issues, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the smaller steps taken to promote liberty, prosperity and opportunity. To wit, the excellent Licensing Hours Extensions Bill, currently passing through Parliament, which will make it easier to extend licensing hours for hospitality venues across England and Wales.
Tabled by Andrew Ranger, the new MP for Wrexham, the Bill allows the Home Secretary to extend alcohol licensing permission at short notice, without the explicit approval of Parliament. If, for example, England were to reach the final of the 2026 World Cup, this Bill would make it easier for the government to allow venues to serve alcohol outside of their usual operating hours. For fans, this means that the party can go on even longer; for venues, it creates an opportunity to make some extra cash, at a time when many such venues are struggling to make ends meet.
If, for example, England were to reach the final of the 2026 World Cup, this Bill would make it easier for the government to allow venues to serve alcohol outside of their usual operating hours
This is not a major change in the grand scheme of things, but it does really matter. Our arcane alcohol licensing laws pose challenges for pubs, restaurants, bars and shops across the country – they restrict when businesses can and cannot offer their services, often at the behest of meddlesome local councils. Last year, the Adam Smith Institute conducted a deep-dive into London’s nightlife scene, and found that restrictive licensing laws were one of the key impediments facing pubs, bars, and restaurants across the city.
Noise complainants should pipe down
As such, further changes to licensing rules would be welcome. In particular, reforms to noise regulation are sorely needed. All too often, long-standing pubs are slapped with fines, as a vocal minority of residents complain about noise. In some cases, popular venues have even lost their license altogether as a result of this Puritanical grumbling. Existing rules ought to be changed, to protect venues from undue complaints – particularly in busy town and city centres. If you choose to move to Soho, you should expect to hear night-time chatter.
It would be remiss of me to talk about licensing without also mentioning some of the other problems which venues face – planning, energy costs, and taxation. Put simply, it’s too hard to expand your premises, it’s too expensive to keep the lights on and, if you do manage to make a profit, too much of it is taken by the Treasury. The result is a hospitality industry which is barely keeping its head above water – and in many cases, much-loved hospitality businesses are closing their doors for good.
And thus, I reveal that my trap is sprung – these localised issues are not separate from the existential issues after all. The microeconomic problems that face our pubs are a downstream consequence of macroeconomic problems around planning, regulation, and energy. When we talk about struggling pubs and boarded-up high streets, we’re really talking about the tangible impacts of bad national policy.
But while the policy wonks work on answering those big questions, we should be willing to commend steps in the right direction. We can all raise a glass to that.
Sam Bidwell is director of the Next Generation Centre at the Adam Smith Institute