{"id":670155,"date":"2026-07-02T17:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/670155\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:16:09","slug":"keir-starmer-to-allow-pubs-to-stay-open-until-5am-for-england-v-mexico-match-pubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/670155\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer to allow pubs to stay open until 5am for England v Mexico match | Pubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pubs will be able to stay open until 5am on Monday for the England World Cup<\/a> match against Mexico, after an intervention from Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s win over the Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/a> on Wednesday night booked a last-16 tie against Mexico that is due to run until at least 3am UK time.<\/p>\n

Alcohol licensing hours will be extended in England and Wales for the match. The home secretary will use legislative power to extend licensing hours on occasions of \u201cexceptional international, national or local significance\u201d. The communities secretary, Steve Reed, is writing to council leaders informing them of these changes.<\/p>\n

Starmer said: \u201cFootball might be coming home but we\u2019re making sure fans don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

\u201cPubs staying open til the final whistle is good news for supporters and good news for the pubs and venues that bring our communities together. The whole country will be backing the team. Come on England!\u201d<\/p>\n

The government had already relaxed licensing rules<\/a> to reflect the time difference with the US, Mexico and Canada. For matches kicking off between 5pm and 9pm, pubs can stay open until 1am. For kick-offs after 9pm, they can remain open until 2am.<\/p>\n

To stay open beyond those times, however, venues must apply for a temporary event notice at least five working days in advance. Pubs that had not anticipated England reaching this stage of the tournament are now unable to apply.<\/p>\n

The business minister Kate Dearden had said on Thursday morning the government would \u201cunfortunately\u201d not relax the rules further to cover Monday morning\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

\u201cPubs can stay open for an extra two or three hours depending on when the match starts,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately that doesn\u2019t apply with the 1am start, but we are absolutely backing our pubs going forward so we can support our lads.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after fierce backlash, including from Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, Starmer decided on Thursday afternoon to allow pubs to stay open.<\/p>\n

England players sing the Oasis hit Wonderwall with fans after a match in Atlanta this week.<\/p>\n

The change followed fierce backlash from MPs and pub owners. A spokesperson for Khan said: \u201cThe mayor is urging local authorities in the capital to work closely with the hospitality industry to allow pubs to stay open into the early hours of Monday morning, so that Londoners can back our pubs and cheer on in England as they take on Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Labour<\/a> MP had earlier described the government response as \u201chopeless\u201d, adding: \u201cIt is mostly small independent businesses [that] will be caught out by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Cleary, who runs The Hodcarrier pub in Leamington Spa, said his application to stay open late for the potential fixture had been refused because he \u201cdidn\u2019t give five working days\u2019 notice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Warwick district council had said it was legally unable to consider temporary event notices submitted outside the statutory notice period of five working days.<\/p>\n

Stella Creasy, the Labour (Co-op) MP for Walthamstow, had also said pubs in her constituency were struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndependent breweries such as those in the Blackhorse Beer Mile<\/a> in Walthamstow are the lifeblood of communities like mine. Councils and ministers must find a way to sort this so they can continue to provide a fantastic fan experience and support them to help us cheer England on in our locals, not be stuck outside on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hospitality sector welcomed the change later on Thursday. Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: \u201cPubs and fans will be over the moon about this decision, because we all know the best place to watch the match is down the local.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tournament is hugely important for our sector, so we\u2019re delighted the government listened to our concerns and acted so quickly. Now we can carry on being the home of live sport and welcoming fans through the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), added: \u201cThis is fantastic news and will be hugely welcomed by operators. The government has listened to the overwhelming public support for England and recognised the challenges facing pubs and licensed premises across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pubs will be able to stay open until 5am on Monday for the England World Cup match against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-670155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}