With the festival season fast approaching, Edinburgh's hospitality sector could be looking forward to being able to stay open later once again.
Edinburgh is currently in level two of restrictions which means they can serve alcohol indoors until 22:30 and outdoors within their local licensing laws.
However, if the capital keeps moving in the right direction on the Scottish Government route map, they may be able to get back to their normal opening hours by the end of June.
This would mean that they could potentially benefit from being able to stay open late during the Fringe season in August, with some venues in the city even allowed to stay open until 5 am during this time.
Edinburgh Evening News reports how the city licensing board has agreed to ‘restore the late licensing hours’ during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, which is set to make a highly anticipated return.
Licensing board convenor Norman Work told the paper that Edinburgh City Council wants to do everything they can to help the hospitality industry ‘operate as normally as they can.’
He said: “The majority of pubs and restaurants have seasonal variations in their licence covering the summer festivals.
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“That means that as long as public health guidance allows, many businesses will be able to take advantage of increased trade with extended opening hours during August, which is great news for the city.”
