The government has confirmed that pubs in England and Wales can stay open until 2am for knockout matches involving England or Scotland during the World Cup. The automatic extension applies to venues with a standard 11pm alcohol licence.
For games kicking off between 5pm and 9pm, licensing hours are extended to 1am; for those between 9pm and 10pm, the extension goes to 2am. However, no automatic extensions are granted for group stage matches.
During the group stage, pubs must rely on their existing licences or apply for a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) to stay open later. Applications for TENs are expected to be approved in most cases, but fans are advised to check with venues for late kick-offs.
The extensions only apply to home nation knockout games. For other matches, standard licensing hours apply unless a pub has a later licence or has obtained a TEN.
