Edinburgh pubs could be open 'past 7am' for World Cup matches

Edinburgh pubs could be allowed to open into the early morning to accommodate World Cup matches, according to plans going before the city’s licensing board on Monday.

Scotland games in the group stage will be kicking off as late as 2am UK time, with other matches set for starts as late as 5am.

As such, city officers are recommending that councillors approve a policy of allowing venues with a licence to show televised sport showing World Cup games to stay open 30 minutes after matches come to an end.

In a report before the board, they state that councillors will need to decide whether to allow the extension for all matches, or just certain ones.

For 90-minute group stage games kicking off at 5am, the licence extension would mean venues could be open past 7am – once any injury time and the 30-minute extension after the end of the match are factored in.

Four games are set to start at 5am. On June 14, Australia will play one of the winners of play-off matches involving Turkey, Kosovo, Romania and Slovakia in Vancouver.

On June 17, Austria will play Jordan with a 5am kick-off in San Francisco, and on June 20 Paraguay will play the other winner of the four earlier mentioned play-off teams.

Finally, on June 21, Tunisia will play Japan with a 5am start in Monterrey, Mexico.

In Vancouver and San Francisco, the games will start at 9pm local time, while the Monterrey game will start at 10pm.

In a consultation run by officers, Police Scotland expressed ‘provisional support’ for the hours extension for Scotland matches.

For other matches, they said their position was still a ‘presumption of grant’, but wanted to be consulted by the council.

In addition, the police service listed conditions they would like to see applied to venues staying open late to show matches.

These include no alcohol sales after the end of full time, that all alcohol sold during extended hours be in plastic cups, and that ticket systems be used to monitor capacity in venues.

Additionally, they want to see SIA-approved stewarding, no under-18s allowed in premises outwith normal approved hours, and a ‘sufficient number of staff’ on duty in venues.

City officers also consulted city venues on their plans around hosting World Cup matches, with 159 responding out of 1,311 contacted.

Over 94 percent of the ones that responded said they intended to show matches, with more than 60 percent of those saying they wanted to show games throughout the tournament.

However, a majority of venues said they did not intend to ticket all events, and over half said they did not intend to employ stewards for events.

Venues said they had concerns about the availability of SIA stewards – though some said they would consider adding stewards nearer to the tournament.

Some venues did say they intended to issue tickets for Scotland matches and for games in later stages of the tournament.

The report also stated that guidance for Scottish licensing boards had not yet come down from the government – but that officers expected support.

It reads: “There has been an indication that the Scottish Government is of the view that the achievement of the Scotland team is a matter of national significance.

“People should be given opportunities to watch matches in places where they can gather with other fans.”

Officers did note that any fan zones, and any premises covered by an occasional licence, would not be covered by any extension to licensing hours.

They stated that any applications for these would have to be considered by the Licensing Board on a case-by-case basis.