'Pub rules may lose us chance to see England win'

A landlord has warned fans may miss a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" of going to the pub to see England lift the World Cup if licensing rules are not relaxed further.

If the squad makes it through to the round of 16 after facing DR Congo later, they will play in Mexico City on 6 July at 01:00 BST.

However Jason Cleary, who runs The Hodcarrier in Leamington Spa, said his application to stay open late to show the potential fixture was "refused" because he "didn't give five working days notice" because he submitted it on Monday.

Warwick District Council said it was legally not able to consider Temporary Event Notices (TENs) submitted outside the statutory notice period of five working days.

The authority confirmed the date of submission did not count towards the notice period.

Licensing laws have already been relaxed to allow pubs to stay open beyond their usual hours.

Pubs can stay open until 01:00 BST for England matches in the knockout stages that kick off between 17:00 and 21:00 and until 02:00 for kick-offs between 21:00 and 22:00.

However, while this covers most scenarios, it does not help early morning kick-offs such as next week's game against Mexico.

"We're celebrating something that only comes around every four years. Everybody becomes an England fan during the World Cup," Cleary said.

"If we're playing until 3 o'clock in the morning they need to allow us to show these games, allow us to have a drink and come together."

Andrew Whitecross, who runs several pubs including The Lion in Kenilworth, said the rules around TENs was "unclear".

Each application costs £21, and there is a limit on how many temporary events a pub can hold each year.

Whitecross said some TENs needed to be reserved for special events such as charity fundraisers and New Year's Eve - and he could not simply apply for every possible England match date far ahead of time, which was dependent on fixture results.

"You can cancel them, but they don't refund. It just seems it's another way of the councils taking more money," he added.

A spokesperson for Warwick District Council said the authority appreciated the group stage presented multiple possible fixture dates.

They added that 20 successful TENs had been processed for 6 July.

"It's important to note that [Whitecross and Cleary's TENs] were not 'refused'," the spokesperson said.

"This implies that the council has considered a valid application and exercised its discretion to refuse it.

"The legislation does not give the council any discretion to accept a TEN that does not meet the prescribed notice requirements."

The statutory requirement is for a minimum of five working days between the submission of a TEN to the day of the event.

This meant an application put in on Monday only classed as four working days of notice.

"Now that the remaining fixtures are a lot clearer, we would like to remind any business that wishes to extend their opening hours, to submit a Temporary Event Notice as soon as possible so they can be considered," the spokesperson added.

Additional reporting by Libby Merrywood

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