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Leisure Sector Update: The impact on Licensing Hours as England advance to the last 32 in the World Cup

Samantha Faud
Samantha Faud Tuesday 30 June 2026

Welcome to the Harrison Drury Leisure Sector Newsletter. Your regular update on legal developments across the leisure, hospitality and tourism sector. Our aim is to keep you informed, prepared and ahead of the curve with insights tailored to support you and your business.

World Cup Update: The impact on Licensing Hours as England advance to the last 32

Now that England have successfully made it through the group stages to the knockout rounds, we have a bit more certainty on their future potential fixtures.

The next match is the round of 32 and is scheduled for Wednesday 1st July with a UK kick-off time of 17.00.  This fixture is covered by the government’s automatic extensions (see here for details) so for qualifying premises, alcohol sales will automatically be permitted up to 01:00.  The extension will also apply to England’s last 16 fixture if they progress that far, but that game is scheduled for 01:00 UK time on Monday 6th July which means many premises would still require a TEN.  If that is the case, it is to be hoped that a TEN is already in place given that the deadline for issuing a TEN (standard or late) has now passed.  If TENs have been obtained for the other potential matches that are now not required, you can withdraw these TENs to ensure the premises can benefit from the maximum allocation throughout the rest of the year.

If England progress to the later stages of the tournament, their quarter final game would kick off at 22:00 on 11th July so the Government’s automatic extension means that sales of alcohol will automatically be permitted until 02:00.  England’s semi-final would be at 20:00 on Wednesday 15th July and the final is at 20:00 on Sunday 19th July.  The Government’s automatic extension would cover the semi-final and the final meaning alcohol sales would automatically be permitted until 01:00.

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