opening times
Pub opening and closing times are down to the licence that applies to the establishment, although most pubs stick to a pretty standard schedule. See below for late-night drinking.
‘Normal’ times are as follows for England and Wales. Scotland is slightly different, it has had more liberal opening times for some time and as a consequence there’s less of a pattern. We expect the same will happen in England and Wales over time.
Monday to Saturday: 11.00-23.00
Sunday: 12.00-22.30
Last orders
Pubs usually call ‘last orders’ ten minutes before closing time and this is often indicated by ringing a bell. It’s merely a warning and you can continue to drink until closing time. When time is called – by ringing the bell again or calling ‘Time, please, ladies and gents’ – that’s it: drink sales are closed; you can’t buy booze to take home at this point either. What follows next is ‘drinking-up time’, when the pub will allow you up to twenty minutes to finish your drink. Some pubs do this more aggressively than others. But, if you find a more relaxed one, they will often let you finish up at your own pace. ‘Lock-ins’ (drinking beyond the times allowed by the pub’s licence) are illegal, even with the new laws, but they do happen in some instances. If you find yourself locked in a pub after last orders and still getting a drink you may count yourself lucky, but be warned: you could get into trouble with the law.
Late night drinking
The law changed in 2005 to allow pubs to apply for a licence to serve outside ‘normal’ hours, theoretically at any time in a 24-hour period. This means pubs can now open at the hours they would like to rather than the rather restrictive 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. they had to previously (except where licence extensions had been permitted). However, not every pub’s application has been successful and, even when they are successful, it is often difficult to find out which pubs do have late opening hours. And in any case sometimes pubs will close when the landlord feels like it.
As the pub trade is still getting to grips with the new laws, we are finding that pubs tend to cluster late-night opening at the end of the week, primarily Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This often means they’re open just a few extra hours, say to 1 or 2 a.m. on those nights, or even just until midnight in a lot of pubs. And, despite what you might read in the media, very few places have a 24-hour licence -it's mostly supermarkets.
There are alternative places to go for a late-night drink, but they are more likely to be clubs and bars than pubs, and there are a few things to consider before trying getting into one. Most of these establishments have gentlemen on the door for the express purpose of keeping pissed, aggressive or unwanted punters from entering. If you are too drunk, you won’t get in. Some places charge an entry fee around closing time. Most clubs charge to get in, for instance, but many will often let you in for free if you arrive earlier. Clubs and bars tend to have music, often making it difficult to have a conversation – if that’s what you wanted to do.
Some are obviously better than others for this sort of thing, but the venues can be variable.
If you do indulge in a late night drink, make sure you can get home – check our Getting there and back again section for more information.