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

A police chief has insisted officers don’t intend to be “killjoys” – but has warned ministers not to “pass the buck” when it comes to the extension of pub opening hours during the World Cup.

The government recently confirmed pubs will be allowed to stay open until 2am if any of the home nations make it to the knockout stage at this summer’s men’s football tournament.

Chief constable of Cheshire Constabulary, Mark Roberts, who is also the UK’s national football lead, said the decision to extend hours “could have been managed differently”.

He said: “We’re not trying to be killjoys, but the existing licensing laws allow individual premises to apply for an extension, and we think that’s a sensible way to do it.”

It is the first time in a decade that the relaxation of alcohol licensing hours will apply to the round of 32 and 16 – with Mr Roberts saying it is “just common sense tells you that is going to give us more problems”.

But many hospitality businesses are hoping the World Cup will give the UK economy a much-needed boost.

In a non-World Cup summer, pubs might expect to sell 372m pints between early June and late July, the dates of the tournament.

But recent figures for The Independent from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) estimate an England appearance in the World Cup final would raise an extra £275m in sales, with fans drinking 55 million more pints over the summer.

According to the BBPA, each World Cup game generates an extra £2.5m to £5m to the industry, with each pub estimated to sell an extra 1,240 pints in the run-up to the final. That is the equivalent of 625,000 50-litre kegs.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, previously said: “The World Cup will be an important boost for Britain’s pubs and brewers, bringing fans together in the nation’s living room. This tournament will further cement pubs’ rightful place as the home for community and celebrations, and this summer of sport could prove to be a summer of success for our locals.”

But addressing the decision announced by the home secretary in February, Mr Roberts expressed concerns over crime and resources.

He said: “My advice, and the licensing lead’s advice, was don’t. We want to support businesses to benefit from the tournament, but there are existing processes where venues can apply for a licence extension, and that can be given due consideration by the licensing committee.

“Extending the hours means it extends the night-time economy, which invariably means during a tournament we need to extend the hours of officers.

“So the more people drink, the more problems we can have, the more policing that is required.

“I think it could have been managed in a different way using existing processes – it is what it is, we’ll just get on with it.”

He said police were expecting “more issues domestically than we are over in the States”.

“We’ll cope, we always cope,” he added.

He continued: “It means that officers will be working potentially late shifts into the early hours, that has a knock-on effect because that takes people away from local communities.

“So we’ll deal with it. We’ll be fine. We’ll manage it, we’ll manage it well.

“We always do, but we would have liked from our perspective, and I know the licensing lead agrees, do it in a more controlled manner, so that we can actually allow the benefits for the licensed trade but not just pass the buck on to policing to put extra resources in to make it work.”