Following the start of the Women’s Euros 2025, here are some tips to make sure you maximise the opportunities the tournament may present, depending on the success of England and Wales.
- Study your Premises Licence to establish whether or not you are automatically entitled to additional hours where there is a sporting event of significance on television. Some licences do provide for this. These often provide for an additional hour or so at the end of your normal permitted hours without any need to apply for a Temporary Event Notice.
- If you want to show football in your pub, because the England and Wales games are being streamed on terrestrial television, then subject to you having a television licence, no permission is needed on your Premises Licence to allow your customers to watch the games.
- It is sensible to consider carrying out a risk assessment of any potential risks that showing England or Wales games may present. The obvious one to consider is drinks and glasses being thrown in the air should England or Wales score a goal. Should you use plastic glasses? Should you employ security for the games?
- If you have outdoor customer areas then, again, there is nothing to stop you showing live television in any outdoor areas on a television screen. However, you should check any limits on the use of your outdoor areas which may be imposed through your Premises Licence such as any restriction on the numbers of people who can be outside, or the times they can be outside. The only way to change these numbers or times on your Premises Licence at this stage would be to issue a Temporary Event Notice, but don’t forget you must give at least 5 clear workings days’ notice for a Late Temporary Event Notice and 10 clear working days’ for a Standard Temporary Event Notice, but this would still provide you with an opportunity to remove any such conditions for games as the tournament progresses.
- Look at your Premises Licence and consider if there are any particular conditions relating to screening of football games. While some Premises Licences provide for additional hours in the event of the screening of international matches of significance, there are also some Premises Licences which may impose additional conditions which may apply to international football games involving the England (or Wales) national teams, such as the use of security, and these will often not distinguish between the men and women’s games.
- Plan ahead. Whichever team wins Group D, whether that be England or Wales, then they would be playing on Saturday 19 July in the Quarter Finals at 8pm, and the runners up would be playing on Thursday 17 July at 8pm. There is no extension of hours planned nationwide on those evenings unlike the semi-final and final.
- Should either England or Wales (or both) reach the semi-finals, then the Government has announced it intends to legislate for the sale of alcohol to continue until 1am the following morning. Should the runner-up of Group D reach the semi-finals that would be played on Tuesday 22 July, and provided your Premises Licence permits you to sell alcohol until 11pm, then your licence hours would be extended automatically until 1am on Wednesday 23 July. The winner of Group D, should they get through the quarter finals, would be playing at 8pm on Wednesday 23 July, and the hours for the sale of alcohol would automatically be extended to 1am on Thursday 24 July. Please note, unlike my local publican who got a little bit confused, you can use the additional hours until 1am for both the semi-finals and the final whether or not England or Wales win or lose. The teams don’t have to win for you to have the benefit of the extension.
- Finally, should either team reach the final on Sunday 27 July at 5pm, and albeit this game kicks off much earlier then, again, the Government has announced it intends the hours for the sale of alcohol will be extended until 1am the following morning (win or lose!), provided you can sell alcohol up until 11pm. The one proviso to add here is that you must check your Premises Licence because should either team reach the final this will be on a Sunday and there are many Premises Licences that only permit the sale of alcohol until 10:30pm and not 11pm. If your licence only permits the sale of alcohol until 10:30pm, then you will not be able to have the benefit of the additional hours until 1am. The only way you could sell alcohol until 1am the following morning, if your hours for the sale of alcohol finish at 10:30pm, would be by way of a Temporary Event Notice, which for a Late Temporary Event Notice would need to be issued at the latest by Friday 18 July, and for a Standard Temporary Event Notice Friday 11 July.
