What time do pubs close in London? How licensing hours work

Why did pubs close at 11?

Because the law used to say so. Until 24 November 2005, the Licensing Act 1964 set the "permitted hours" for licensed premises in England and Wales: on weekdays from 11:00 to 23:00, and on Sundays from 12:00 to 22:30, subject to exceptions elsewhere in the Act [1]. On that date the Licensing Act 2003 completed the repeal of the 1964 Act [1].

Since then, no national closing time has applied. A venue asks for the hours it wants, and the council decides each application on its merits. The Home Office's statutory guidance says councils "must not impose predetermined licensed opening hours, without giving individual consideration to the merits of each application" [2].

Who decides a venue's hours?

The council, acting as the licensing authority. Every council has to publish a statement of licensing policy for each five-year period, after consulting the police, the fire service and others [6]. The guidance lets a council's policy use fixed closing times, staggered closing times or zoning, as long as the evidence supports them [2].

If nobody makes a relevant objection to an application, the law requires the council to grant it as made [13]. The policy decides what happens when someone does. The nine councils in this guide take five approaches [3][7][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]:

• Core or framework hours: Westminster, Hackney, Camden and Tower Hamlets. Each names the hours beyond which it looks harder at an application, and each allows that later hours are possible.
• Hours the council looks on more favourably: Islington.
• Recommended hours that change with the type of area: Southwark and Lambeth, which allow later hours in their town centres than in residential streets.
• A general limit of midnight: Kensington and Chelsea.
• No set hours: the City of London.

Westminster and Hackney also mark out areas where the number of licensed premises already has a cumulative impact. Westminster has one, the West End Cumulative Impact Zone, which holds about a quarter of the city's licensed premises [3]. In Hackney's special policy area, an application that draws a relevant objection is refused unless the applicant shows it will not add to the impact already felt [7].

What hours does each council's policy set?

For pubs and bars, or for every licensed premises where the council does not split them by type [3][7][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]:

An end time after midnight falls on the next morning: Lambeth's 02:00 on a Saturday means 02:00 on Sunday morning [17]. Each policy has its own wording:

• Westminster. Its policy took effect on 1 October 2026. It calls core hours "reference points" and "not absolute limits", and says about 800 licences in the city already allow hours beyond them [3].
• Hackney. Its policy runs from 2023 to 2028. It says later hours may be considered where an applicant has put robust measures in place, and that hours may be more restrictive where the character of an area requires it [7].
• Camden. It says the end of its framework hours is not "the 'usual' or 'normal' terminal hour" in the borough, and that it expects premises to close 30 minutes after their licensed activities stop [13].
• Tower Hamlets. Its framework hours apply only where relevant representations are made. Theatres, cinemas and members' clubs generally have more freedom to trade outside them [14].
• Islington. For nightclubs it lists 08:00 to 01:00, and 08:00 to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday [15].
• Southwark. It says the hours "are not pre-determined". Its top area class, major town centres and strategic cultural areas, includes Elephant and Castle, Peckham, Borough and Bankside, and London Bridge. District town centres take the same pub hours; local centres and small shopping parades take 23:30 on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday [16].
• Lambeth. It calls its hours "guidance only", and may agree an earlier or a later end. Its district centres take 00:00, and 01:00 on Friday and Saturday [17].
• Kensington and Chelsea. Where someone makes a relevant objection, it will not normally grant hours later than midnight, though it decides each application on its merits [18].
• City of London. It "has not set framework hours", and says residents can reasonably expect their sleep not to be unduly disturbed between 23:00 and 07:00 [19].

The policies themselves:

Each council's document, or the council page that links it, was read on 27 October 2026. Councils revise their policies at least every five years, and the City of London's next one is due in January 2027 [6][19]. A policy's hours are not any venue's hours: a licence can allow more or less than the policy names, and about 800 Westminster licences already allow more [3].

Which council covers which area?

The rules above differ from council to council, so it matters which one a venue sits in. By the share of each MYSOVA zone's land that lies in each council's area [8][20]:

A zone with no percentage lies wholly in that council's area. King's Cross, Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and the South Bank each sit across a council boundary [8][20]. For a venue near an edge, check its address.

How to find one venue's licensed hours

On the wall. Every venue with a premises licence in England and Wales must keep a summary of its licence, or a certified copy, "prominently displayed" [4]. The summary form, on A4 paper or larger, sets out the times the licence authorises each activity, such as the sale of alcohol. It gives the opening hours of the premises separately, and the two can differ [5].

On the register. Every council must keep a register of the licences it issues, and let anyone inspect it free of charge during office hours [9]. Westminster's register can be searched online by address [10].

A licence sets the latest a venue may carry on each licensed activity [5]. MYSOVA's website does not publish any venue's hours: a venue can keep shorter hours than its licence allows, and a published list goes out of date.

After closing time

The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights, and buses run through the night on all seven nights [11]. For the stations and night routes around two of MYSOVA's zones, see getting home from Soho at night and Brixton for a night out.

Where MYSOVA comes in

MYSOVA is a London social passport: clock in at bars, pubs and clubs, earn XP and meet people where you go. A MYSOVA night runs from 08:00 to 07:55 the next morning, London time, so a clock-in at 01:00 counts toward the night that began the evening before [12]. The Soho zone page and the Dalston zone page list each zone's venues by name.

Your first clock-in starts your passport.

Free · UK App Store and Google Play · 18+

Sources

Sources 1 to 12 were fetched or read on 22 October 2026; Westminster's and Hackney's policy pages (sources 3 and 7) were read again, and sources 13 to 20 read, on 27 October 2026.

1. Licensing Act 1964, section 60, "Permitted hours in licensed premises", as in force on 23 November 2005: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1964/26/section/60/2005-11-23. The repeal note on the same section records the Act's repeal by the Licensing Act 2003 on 24 November 2005 (S.I. 2005/3056).
2. Home Office, "Revised guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003", September 2026, paragraphs 10.13, 14.51 and 14.54 to 14.55: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-memorandum-revised-guidance-issued-under-s-182-of-licensing-act-2003.
3. Westminster City Council, Statement of Licensing Policy, version 8, adopted 16 September 2026 and effective 1 October 2026: Core Hours Policy HRS1 and paragraphs D94 to D99, and the Cumulative Impact section: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/licensing/licensing-policy-and-strategy/statement-licensing-policy.
4. Licensing Act 2003, section 57, "Duty to keep and produce licence": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/57.
5. The Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/42), regulation 34 and Schedule 12, Part B, "Premises licence summary": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/42/schedule/12.
6. Licensing Act 2003, section 5, "Statement of licensing policy": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/5.
7. London Borough of Hackney, Statement of Licensing Policy 2023 to 2028, effective 1 August 2023: policies LP3 (Core Hours) and LP10 (Special Policy Areas): https://www.hackney.gov.uk/business-and-licensing/licensing/licensing-policy-alcohol-entertainment-and-late-night-refreshment.
8. MYSOVA zones table (production, read-only SELECT id, name, multiplier, polygon FROM public.zones, 22 October 2026; the website's copy of the 17 shapes matched it on 27 October 2026). Each zone's land is divided between councils by intersecting its shape with source 20, on the British National Grid. Part of the South Bank and Bermondsey shapes lies over the Thames and is left out of the shares.
9. Licensing Act 2003, section 8, "Requirement to keep a register": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/8.
10. Westminster City Council, licensing public register: https://licensing.westminster.gov.uk/sf/control/publicregister.
11. Transport for London, "The Night Tube": https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/tube/night-tube, and "Safer travel at night": https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/your-safety-and-security/safer-travel-at-night.
12. get_night_date in the MYSOVA app's source (supabase/migrations/20260517143113_night_date_expand_window.sql, origin/main 07371a95d): the 08:00 to 07:55 London night.
13. London Borough of Camden, Statement of Licensing Policy 2025 to 2030, Chapter Five, paragraphs 5.3, 5.7 and 5.12: https://www.camden.gov.uk/licensing-policy (the page gives the expiry date and links the PDF).
14. London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Statement of Licensing Policy 2023 to 2028, effective 1 November 2023, "Licensing Hours": https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Consumer-affairs/Registration,-certification-and-licensing/Licensing/Statement-of-Licensing-Policy-2023-2028.docx.
15. Islington Council, Statement of Licensing Policy 2023 to 2027, Licensing Policies 5 and 6: https://www.islington.gov.uk/business/licences-permits-registration/alcohol-and-entertainment-licences/islington-licensing-policy.
16. Southwark Council, Licensing Act 2003 Statement of Licensing Policy 2026 to 2031, adopted by Council Assembly on 18 March 2026: Chapter 7, paragraphs 127 and 137, and Table 2, "Recommended Licensable Hours": https://www.southwark.gov.uk/business-and-licences/licences/our-licensing-policies.
17. Lambeth Council, Statement of Licensing Policy 2024 to 2029: paragraph 1.12, Policy 10 (paragraphs 16.1 to 16.7), Appendix 5, "Types of premises and recommended hours by type of location", and Appendix 7: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-06/Licensing%20Policy%202024-29%20Lambeth.pdf.
18. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Statement of Licensing Policy, January 2026 to January 2031, version date 21 November 2025: paragraphs 2.9 and 10.3: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/media/document/statement-of-licensing-policy-2026-to-2031.
19. City of London Corporation, Statement of Licensing Policy 2022, paragraphs 7, 29 and 168: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/licensing/alcohol-and-entertainment/licensing-policy.
20. Office for National Statistics, Local Authority Districts (May 2026) Boundaries UK BFC, from the ONS Open Geography Portal: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.