Home / Extra time at the bar: licensing considerations for the World Cup 2026
20th March 2026
Claire Morris, Associate
June this year brings an opportunity to the pub industry for many operators to boost trade – the men’s World Cup 2026!
The tournament starts on Thursday 11 June 2026 and finishes on the evening of Sunday 19 July 2026. The full schedule of games can be found on the FIFA website: World Cup 2026 | Match schedule, fixtures & stadiums
With Canada, Mexico and the USA being the planned hosts for the World Cup, kick off times back here in the United Kingdom will be the first thing to think about due to the time difference and what this means for your operation.
The Home Secretary has announced a set of licensing relaxations will apply to certain stages of the World Cup for those operating licensed premises[1]. The nature of the relaxations depends on where you are in the United Kingdom.
At the time of writing, it is proposed that the following rules around relaxations will apply to operators in England and Wales during the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final stages where home nations[2] are playing:
The extensions apply to licensed premises only and solely in relation to the on-sales of alcohol.
Our devolved friends in Scotland or Northern Ireland will have their own arrangements for these stages.
The World Cup provides operators with a great opportunity to gain new customers, try something new and increase revenue. You may wish to show the games and post-match analysis, or allow your customers extra drinking up time. You might be expecting parents to come in and watch a match with their sons and daughters. You may be hosting ‘World Cup Parties’ or other football related events at the premises in addition to showing the games. Showing football matches and hosting related events – especially if this is something you don’t usually do – also introduces other risks to be considered and managed including noise, dispersal and customer conduct all of which need to be anticipated and managed.
With all this in mind and to help you prepare for June, let’s run through some of the key things to consider as you prepare your World Cup events. To assist we have also provided a guide to Temporary Event Notices (TEN) at the end of this article, setting out the when you can use a TEN, the annual allowances (for premises and persons) and application timescales.
The broadcasting of live TV is not a Licensable Activity under the Licensing Act 2003, and therefore no changes would be required to your premises licence to permit this (unless you happen to have any specific conditions prohibiting or restricting the showing of live sport).
You will also need to ensure that you have the appropriate commercial TV Licence to show live matches on terrestrial television and/or have the relevant commercial subscription to show live matches on subscription-based channels.
You should be aware that the broadcasting of anything on television that is not live sport or live/rolling news has implications from a copyright perspective. If you want to show matches which aren’t live, or intend to leave the TV rolling after a sporting event has ended, you will likely need to seek a film/motion picture licence to cover the copyright in the media you are broadcasting.
Note also, that, as a general rule, if you are playing music at your premises (either as background or as part of a broadcast), the copyright elements of this will need to be covered by PRS/PPL licences.
If you are not a licensed premises, or you are but you want to operate beyond the confines of the extension, then you will need a temporary event notice to authorise any licensable activities.
Remember the extended hours do not apply to the group stages and the Republic of Ireland is not a home nation. Also, the provisions for pre-quarter final knock out rounds are yet to be confirmed. The relaxations are also unlikely to apply to the ‘third place play off’ between the two losing semi finalists. If you want to operate later on those match days, consider using TENs to secure the authorisations you need. And if kick off is later than 22:00 (where no extension applies), does your premises licence allow you to remain open late enough to show the game and post-match analysis?
In addition to hours, you’ll need to consider other licensable activities. For example, the extensions do not currently include off-sales of alcohol, late night refreshment (supply of hot food or hot drink between 23:00- 05:00), or regulated entertainment, so if you wish to add these to your offering, you will need a TEN to authorise it. You will also need a TEN if you wish to use a pop-up bar in any unlicensed area, for example, an unlicensed beer garden that is typically used for consumption only.
Do any conditions on your premises licence stop you operating in the way you would wish? For example, “No under 18s on the premises at any time” might prevent families watching the game at your premises. Conditions such as “No screens / no speakers in external area”, or “External area to close at 21:00” would obviously limit your ability to show the games in a beer garden or outside terrace. Remember, you can use TENs to have the effect of ‘lifting’ any embedded restrictions that limit what you can do and where.
Screening matches might be a departure from your usual operating style, or you might anticipate more customers than usual. As a result, you may need to update your risk assessments. For example, will you reconfigure the premises for screenings or event nights and how does this affect your fire risk assessment or maximum occupancy? How will the placement of screens and speakers affect neighbours and residents? It is also hoped that showing the games will attract a lot of customers. How will you manage the premises’ capacity for popular events – is the event being ticketed, and are any existing SIA provisions on your premises licence adequate? If your premises licence does not stipulate any SIA requirement, we would suggest you undertake a risk assessment to establish an appropriate level of SIA support.
Football is the beautiful but also noisy game so how will you manage this? Noise complaints and customer conduct are a common trigger for complaints and – worst case scenarios – premises licence reviews and noise abatement notices. Put in place a documented noise management plan and be a good neighbour – notify local residents and other noise sensitive areas of your plans (and give them a free ticket if it’s a ticketed event). Managing football fans is not always easy – risk assess the need to use plastics and have a certain level of SIA support, particularly to support the swift departure of customers from the premises.
World Cup TENs are likely to take a bit of planning, although when you lodge a TEN may depend on your current remaining TENs allowance. For certainty, and if you can, make sure you lodge any TENs you need in good time (and avoid lodging late TENs if possible). Alternatively, you may wish to track the games and lodge TENs nearer the time once you know who is playing. We would also suggest you contact your licensing officer in advance of lodging any TENs to discuss your plans, particularly if there are a lot of other premises in the area that are likely to be showing the matches. This will reduce the risk of an objection being lodged and may also provide an opportunity for the authority to provide you with additional relevant advice to support the safe operation of the premises on those occasions.
Remember you can always withdraw 24 hours in advance if a team gets knocked out. Whilst you won’t recover the fee, the time will be returned to your annual allowance.
We would suggest you keep a schedule of the TENs needed, any TENs lodged and any TENs withdrawn so you can keep track on what you need, what’s in place and what you have left for the rest of the year.
There is still some three months to go before the World Cup starts. For some operators, the use of TENs might be excluded for some reason (for example, capacity). Or you might want to make changes to your premises licence that will benefit your operation beyond the World Cup. If so, then you could consider one of the following:
Be aware that it can take up to two months to obtain a new premises licence or a full variation to an existing one. It can take between 11 – 15 working days for a minor variation. Again, we would suggest contacting the relevant responsible authorities in advance to discuss your World Cup proposals.
TENs REMINDER – RESTRICTIONS AND ANNUAL ALLOWANCES
TENs can only be used when 499 or fewer persons in total are present (this includes customers, staff, performers, security staff etc).
A premises is permitted to have x21 days, and x15 TENs (x5 can be late TENs) per annum.
Personal licence holders can have up to x50 TENS (x10 can be late TENs) per annum.
Non personal licence holders can have up to x5 TENs (x2 can be late TENs) per annum.
A single TEN can last no longer than 168 hours.
There must be at least 24 hours between the end of one TEN and the start of the next.
TENs operating before and concluding after midnight will use two days of the annual allowance.
Standard TEN to be lodged at least x10 clear working days before the TEN event starts.
Late TEN to be lodged x5 – x9 clear working days before the TEN event starts.
Withdrawn TEN 24 hours before start of TEN event (days returned to annual allowance but fees are non-returnable).
Contributors: Rebecca Egan, Specialist Licensing Paralegal