Licensing Act 1872

24Times of closing.

Subject as herein-after mentioned all premises on which intoxicating liquors are sold or exposed for sale by retail shall be closed as follows; that is to say,

(1)If such premises are situated within the city of London or the liberties thereof, or any parish or place subject to the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works, or within the four mile radius from Charing Cross, on Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good Friday during the whole day before one of the clock in the afternoon, and between the hours of three and six of the clock in the afternoon, and after the hour of eleven of the clock at night; and on all other days before five of the clock on the following morning :

(2)If situated beyond the city of London and the liberties thereof, and the parishes or places subject to the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works, or beyond the four mile radius from Charing Cross, on Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good Friday during the whole day before the hour of half-past twelve (or, if the licensing justices direct, one) in the afternoon, and between the hours of half-past two (or, if one be the hour of opening, then three) and six in the afternoon, and after the hour of ten (or, if the licensing justices direct, any hour not earlier than nine and not later than eleven) at night, and on all other days before the hour of six (or, if the licensing justices direct, any hour not earlier than five and not later than seven) in the morning, and after the hour of eleven (or, if the licensing justices direct, any hour not earlier than ten and not later than twelve) at night.

Any person who sells or exposes for sale, or opens or keeps open any premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors during the time that such premises are directed to be closed by or in pursuance of this section, or during such time as aforesaid allows any intoxicating liquors to be consumed on such premises, shall for the first offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and for any subsequent offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. Any conviction for an offence against this section shall be recorded on the license of the person convicted, unless the convicting magistrate or justices shall otherwise direct.

None of the provisions contained in this section shall preclude a person licensed to sell any intoxicating liquor to be consumed on the premises from selling such liquor to bona fide travellers or to persons lodging in his house.

Nothing in this section contained shall preclude the sale at any time, at a railway station, of intoxicating liquors to persons arriving at or departing from such station by railroad.

An order for the alteration of the closing hours in pursuance of subsection two of this section may be made by the licensing justices at any general annual licensing meeting, or any adjournment thereof, held in pursuance of the Act of the ninth year of George the Fourth, chapter sixty-one; and also in Middlesex or Surrey at any time before the next general annual licensing meeting at any special sessions summoned for the purpose; provided that, twenty-one days at the least before any such meeting or adjournment, notice be given, in the same manner as is prescribed by the last-mentioned Act for the holding of such meeting or adjournment, that the alteration of the closing hours will then be considered : Provided that no order allowing licensed premises to remain open after the hour of ten at night on Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, or after the hour of eleven at night on other days, shall, as to such allowance, apply to premises in respect of which a certificate is in force under " The Wine and Beerhouse Acts, 1869 and 1870."

Provided further, that premises in respect of which such certificate is in force, if situated in a town containing less than two thousand five hundred inhabitants, and beyond the city of London and the liberties thereof and the parishes or places subject to the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works or beyond the four mile radius from Charing Cross, shall not on any day be open after the hour of ten at night.

Any order made by the licensing justices for the alteration of closing hours shall not come into operation until the expiration of one month after the date, thereof, and in the meantime shall be advertised in such manner as the licensing justices shall direct.