Government confirms plans to extend licensing hours for Queen's Platinum Jubilee

The Platinum Jubilee will mark the Queen's 70-year reign and the celebrations will include a four-day bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2 June until Sunday 5 June.

Having first mooted the plans back in January​​, yesterday (21 March) the Home Office confirmed that licensing hours for pubs, clubs and bars will be extended from the normal 11pm closing time to 1am the following day on Thursday 2, Friday 3 and Saturday 4 June. 

Home Office Minister Kit Malthouse said it would allow revellers to mark the Jubilee and ‘celebrate the longest-reigning monarch in the United Kingdom’.

The Government will publish an impact assessment on its website in due course.

Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 allows the Home Secretary to make a licensing hours order, giving permission to premises to open for specified, extended hours to mark occasions of exceptional international, national or local significance.

Licensing hours have also previously been extended for The Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016; the FIFA World Cup in 2014; The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012; and the royal wedding in 2011.

This year’s Jubilee extension will also apply to premises’ entertainment licences.