Pubs Granted Longer Serving Hours During World Cup

I have long thought that responsible, adult people should be allowed to stay up as long as they like, preferably in a pub, before drinking their Ovaltine and hitting the sack. Well, now Her Majesty’s Home Office have agreed we can do so if we want to - well, only for the World Cup!

They, the Home Office, who are in charge of these things, originally pronounced that the World Cup was not an "occasion of national importance", and that pubs would not be allowed to stay open till 1.00 am (so that customers could watch England miss three penalties in a shoot-out). Rather, they thought that we should all be at home swigging ten pints of strong lager bought from the local supermarket, most of us watching in agony alone without the comfort of our mates to sob with, as the last missed penalty puts us out of the competition.

Then Halleluiah, 'call me Dave' listened to the outcry from the trade and got involved, telling the Home Office to reconsider, and what do you know; reconsider they did! Their new pronouncement is that the World Cup has become and therefore now IS "an occasion of national significance" and pubs (if they want to) can stay open and serve alcohol for four hours after an 8.00pm kick off, until 1.00 am at the latest (not quite sure what happens if there is 20 minutes plus extra time in the match, guess we will have to leave the pub and find out the result in the newspaper at breakfast).

Luckily, I shall be in Spain on holiday during the first England match and so I shall find a bar, and I bet I shall not need to ask Pedro the owner if I can stay till the match finishes (I’ll let you know). I also imagine that Spanish fans will not need to ask if they are allowed to stay in their local bar when Spain plays no matter what time it finishes? This probably also applies in the other nations taking part.

Bridget Simmonds, British Beer and Pub Association CEO said "It’s really great news, which will put pubs at the heart of a great national event, I am pleased that HMG have listened and made sure that COMMON SENSE prevails. Thank you to the hundreds in the pub trade who made their views clear to the government". And so say all of us!


Martin Read CMBII
Managing Director of www.inn-dispensable.com Personal Licence Courses