Police warning over extended World Cup pub opening hours – while insisting they aren’t ‘killjoys’

A police chief insisted officers did not intend to be “self-indulgent” but warned ministers not to “pass the buck” when it comes to extending pub opening hours during the World Cup.

The government recently confirmed that pubs will be allowed to stay open until 2am if any of their countries advance to the knockout stage of this summer’s men’s football tournament.

Cheshire Constabulary Chief Constable Mark Roberts, who is also the UK’s national football leader, said the decision to extend opening hours “could have been handled differently”.

He said: “We’re not trying to be a spoilsport, but existing licensing laws allow individual premises to apply for extensions and we think this is a sensible way to do it.”

For the first time in a decade, the relaxation of alcohol licensing hours will apply to rounds 32 and 16 – which Mr Roberts says is “just common sense tells you this is going to cause us more problems”.

But many hospitality businesses hope the World Cup will provide a much-needed boost to the UK economy.

In a summer without a World Cup, pubs can expect to sell 372 million pints between early June and late July, the tournament dates.

But the latest figures Independent The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) predicts England’s appearance in the World Cup final will boost sales by an extra £275 million and fans will drink 55 million more pints over the summer.

According to the BBPA, each World Cup match generates an extra £2.5 million to £5 million for the industry, with each bar expected to sell an extra 1,240 pints in the run-up to the final. This is equivalent to 625,000 50-litre kegs.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, previously said: “The World Cup will be a major boost for pubs and brewers across the UK, bringing fans together in the nation’s living room. This tournament will further cement pubs’ rightful place as homes for community and celebration, and this summer of sport can be a successful one for our local community.”

But referring to the decision announced by the Home Secretary in February, Mr Roberts expressed concerns about crime and resources.

He said: “My advice, and the advice of the licensing lead, was that you do not do this. “We want to support businesses to benefit from the tournament, but there are processes in place where venues can apply for a license extension and be considered by the licensing committee.

“Extending working hours also means extending the night economy, which means we always have to extend the working hours of stewards during a tournament.

“So the more people drink, the more problems we have, the more police we need.

“I think it could have been managed differently using existing processes; that’s the way it is, and we’ll continue to do that.”

He said police expect “more problems domestically than in the United States.”

“We will cope, we always will,” he added.

He continued: “This means officers will potentially be working late shifts into the early hours, which has a knock-on effect as it drives people away from local communities.

“We’ll take care of it. We’ll be fine. We’ll manage it, we’ll manage it well.”

“We always do, but from our point of view, which I know the licensing leader agrees with, is to do it in a more controlled way so we can actually allow for the benefits of licensed trading, but not just pass the responsibility on to the police to put in extra resources to make it work.”