Hic!

I thought we had 24-hour drinking in this country - indeed I have posted on the subject in the past.  So I was surprised, following the fuss about England's opening World Cup match being played at 11.00 p.m. our time - to find that it isn't so.  As an establishment which serves alcoholic drinks you need (and have always needed) a licence to do so, and the 2003 Licencing Act allowed for the first time for such licences to be for round the clock opening, but you have to apply for such a licence, and only a relatively few places - mainly nightclubs - have done so.  So the majority of pubs and other drinking places still call "time" at some point depending on the terms of their licence.  The government apparently have the power to grant a nationwide temporary extension to licencing hours for special events, and this is what is under consideration for the World Cup match.  Otherwise it would be for individual establishments to apply for individual extensions to their licence, which would be bureaucratic and costly.