Edinburgh Festival late licence for bars and clubs cancelled

The extended opening hours given to pubs and bars throughout the Fringe Festival have been cancelled by licensing officials, the BBC has reported.

August usually sees Edinburgh’s nightlife open late as pubs remain open until 3am with clubs closing at 5am, but due to coronavirus cancelling this year’s festival pub owners have been left without the extra hours, which they say would have helped recoup some of their lockdown losses.

Edinburgh City Council said it was due to there being no festival this year.

Iain Ponton, owner of Oz Bar in Edinburgh's Grassmarket, told the BBC: "I'm really disappointed by this news as Edinburgh Council said it wanted to help businesses recover from the lockdown.

"The Edinburgh Festival might be off but Edinburgh isn't shutting down. There are plenty of tourists walking about and this would have helped us recoup some of the money we have lost during the lockdown.

"The council really is not helping by doing this. What harm would it have done to let us carry on having a late licence during August?"

Others added that their business had been relying on the late licensing coming into effect.

Norman Work, chairman of City of Edinburgh Council's licensing board, told the BBC: "As the festivals are not going ahead due to the coronavirus this year, the board has made a decision not to go ahead with agreeing dates for licence extensions normally applicable during the festivals this summer.

"This information has been shared on the licensing board pages of the council's website and through social media."