Easter hours extended for Northern Irish pubs

Pubs in Northern Ireland will be permitted to serve alcohol later at Easter. This means that most venues can sell drinks until 11PM, but premises with a late licence can sell until 1AM or 2AM if additional hours are permitted.

Northern Ireland’s licensing law changes came about in June 2021. Prior to this, pubs were only permitted serve alcohol between 5 and 11PM on Good Friday, until midnight on Easter Saturday and only until 10PM on Easter Sunday. The reforms came about due to years of pressure from hospitality leaders who suggested that early closure at Easter was bad for business.

Hospitality Ulster’s Colin Neil told the BBC that The Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Bill was a “shot in the arm for the entire hospitality industry as it emerges from a protracted period of pandemic closure”. He then described the previous licensing rules as “restrictive laws of the past”, stating that business owners had “been at their wits end having to stay closed and shut early, losing millions in trade”. Bar staff and waiters can therefore expect longer shifts this weekend.

The reforms mark the most significant change to alcohol-related laws in the country since the 1996 Licensing Order. The Order comprehensively covered every aspect of Northern Irish law relating to drinks, from Easter opening hours to powers to exclude intoxicated individuals. The reforms also mean that pubs with the correct license can serve drinks until 2AM every weekend, effective as of last October, with an hour of “drinking up” time permitted.

In what is typically viewed as a highly religious country within the UK, this is the first Easter when later opening hours will be in place. However, one 2021 survey suggests that 27% of the population describe themselves as “irreligious”, double what it was a decade earlier.