Help Platinum Jubilee celebrations to boost hospitality, urges UKH

By James Lawrence

Published: 10 January, 2022

As plans are drawn up for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, UKHospitality has petitioned the government to extend the UK's normal licensing hours during the bank holiday weekend.

According to UKHospitality, the organisation has backed plans to extend licensing hours in England and Wales to 1am. The trade association has said that they could give Covid-devastated businesses ‘vital extra trading time’ during an extended four-day weekend of revelry.

The campaign to extend licensing hours began last summer, when UKHospitality called upon the Home Office to give businesses extra wiggle room. The trade association has now responded to a government consultation document on extending drinking times.

UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, commented: “As Britain’s longest reigning monarch, Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee is a rare and special event that millions of people across the UK will want to celebrate, and it will be extra-special for thousands of hospitality businesses hit by Covid-19, because it affords them a wonderful opportunity to recoup some of their pandemic losses. We welcome government proposals that recognise the role that licensed premises will play in the celebrations.”

She added: “We’re therefore urging the Home Office to go ahead with plans to extend licensing hours in England and Wales to 1am on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the four-day Bank Holiday weekend. That vital extra trading time for venues will make an enormous difference, and go some way to helping them recover from the devastating effects of coronavirus.”

In order to give operators time to fully prepare for the event, UKHospitality has asked the Government to push through extended licensing hours as quickly as possible. Legislation exists that allows a blanket extension of licensing hours for ‘significant national events’.

Recent national celebrations that have seen longer licensing hours in England and Wales include the Royal Wedding in 2011, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and the Queen’s 90th Birthday in 2016, and were also introduced in England by the Government for the 2010 and 2014 football World Cups.

The Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday will feature several key events: Thursday – The Queen’s Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour); Friday – St Paul's Cathedral Service of Thanksgiving; Saturday – The Derby at Epsom Downs; Sunday – The Big Jubilee Lunch street parties and other gatherings across the UK.

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