'It won't make a lot of difference': West Midlands pubs say VE Day extended hours a nice idea, but won't have much effect on business
Pub landlords across the region have said that the planned extension of licensing hours for VE Day will not have much impact on their trade.
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As part of VE Day celebrations, the Government issued a licensing hours order under section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003, which will extend licensing hours in England and Wales for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
The order will apply to premises already licensed for the sale of alcohol and late-night refreshments for consumption on the premises until 11pm and will allow premises to remain open until 1am on May 9.
The Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention, Dame Diana Johnson, had said: "The Government view VE Day as an event of exceptional national significance, and an extension to licensing hours will enable communities to come together at their local licensed premises to celebrate 80 years of peace since the end of world war two, which millions paid the ultimate sacrifice to achieve.
"This will also provide support to the hospitality sector by enabling businesses to extend their trading hours should they wish to do so."
However, despite pubs being given the green light to open for extended hours, the feeling among landlords in Wolverhampton and the surrounding area was that they wouldn't see any benefit from the plan, due to being on a Thursday evening.
Terry Cole, who runs the Royal Oak in Wolverhampton, said he didn't see much benefit from the plans and said he felt it was an idea that had just been thrown together.
He said: "I don't think it'll really matter, to be honest, as it's a Thursday night and if we were based in the city centre, we'd make an effort, but I think we and a lot of other pubs will just be closing down at our normal times.
"Nobody really comes out too late anymore for the pubs and I think the Government just chucked it out there to see what people think.
"Really, I don't see much benefit from it as it's a Thursday night and people have got to go to work on Friday morning, so they're not going to stay out all night unless it was on a bank holiday."
At the Five Ways Inn in Gornal, landlord Mike Westwood said that while he felt it was a good idea in theory, he said it would have been better to put the extension on a weekend.
He said: "It's a good idea as anything that increases trade can be good for us, but you need the people to come out and celebrate.
"It's probably not going to work on a Thursday and, maybe, it would have been better to give us the extension on a weekend or a Friday because people have work commitments or have to take kids to school, so I can't see it making much difference."
In Pattingham at the Crown, landlord Stuart Rawlingson also said he didn't see it making much difference due to being in the week.
He said: "I don't see it making any difference at all, to be honest, not that I don't respect VE Day, I absolutely do, but I just don't think it's necessary.
"I just don't think that extending the licensing hours on that day is going to make any difference as it's on a weekday."
Toby Lardner, who runs Codsall Station pub, said he respected the idea, but said it might just cause more problems due to people having longer to drink.
He said: "I really don't mind it, each pub to their own, but to us, it doesn't really make any difference because we've done all our business before then, so extending the hours for us just creates more problems as people may get more drunk by that time.
"Extending the hours is ok if you're a city centre pub, but for us, the extending hours just cause more problems as they drag out the evening."
As for city centre pubs, the Posada in Wolverhampton is one of the more popular and unique pubs in Wolverhampton city centre, but landlord Chris Millard said the day would just be a normal one for him and he saw no difference coming with the extension.
He said: "As it falls on a Thursday, it'll just be a normal day for us and we'll end up closing at 11am as normal.
"To be perfectly honest, it's a quiet day for us anyway, so I don't think extending the hours for us is going to make much difference anyway."
