Most Wetherspoon and Greene King pubs to stay shut despite 5am World Cup licence

The majority of pubs in England and Wales will not take advantage of a government-granted 5am licence extension for England’s World Cup round-of-16 match against Mexico, with Wetherspoon confirming just five of its 800 venues plan to open and Greene King saying around 600 of its 2,600 sites will stay open late.

Sir Keir Starmer announced on Thursday that pubs across England and Wales could remain open until 5am for the match, which kicks off at 1am on Monday. The blanket extension removes the need for individual venues to apply for extended hours, building on the 2am extension already in place for England’s group-stage games.

Despite the regulatory green light, many pub owners say practical realities make late-night trading unworkable. Tommy Higgs, co-owner of The Three Horseshoes in Witney, Oxfordshire, told LBC that noise concerns and staffing constraints ruled out opening. “We’re in a built-up community around here, and I think it’s just a little bit disrespectful for our locals to have that sort of noise at 5am,” he said. “No one’s going to want to work until five in the morning. We’re not a nightclub, we’re a local pub in a small town.”

Higgs acknowledged the extension would benefit larger city-centre venues but argued it offered little to community pubs. “There’s other things they can be doing to help the pub trade out,” he said. “For some it’s a benefit, but for others it’s just completely pointless, really.”

Greene King’s brand and marketing director Andrew Gallagher took a more optimistic tone, saying the company was “delighted” to have been granted permission and urging fans to book their spot early given expected demand.

The announcement comes against a backdrop of a declining pub sector. The British Beer and Pub Association reported that the number of pubs in the UK fell from 46,829 in 2020 to 44,656 in 2025.

England booked their place in the last 16 by beating the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2-1 on Wednesday.