Currently, venues in Edinburgh are allowed two additional hours of trading between 18^th December and 3^rdJanuary. From next year, the start of the festive trading hours will be decided on a year-by-year basis and will run until 2^nd January, not the 3^rd.

The change was decided as the board considered its new licensing policy statement, with both NHS Lothian and Police Scotland having requested a cut to festive hours during a recent public consultation.

After debating various options – including removing the additional hours altogether, reducing the additional festive and festival hours to one extra hour of trading instead of two or keeping the two extra hours but starting them on 20^th December instead of the 18^th – the board decided to adopt a new ‘flexible’ approach to its festive hours policy.

The SLTN reported, board convenor, councillor Louise Young, saying the discussion around reducing festive trading hours ‘was prompted by concerns raised around public health and the additional pressure on our public services organisations including NHS Lothian and Police Scotland, over the winter period’.

“The board took the final decision to remove only the 3^rd January, and instead of a fixed start of 20^th December, to instead look at this on a year by year basis so that consideration can be given to when the weekends fall before Christmas,” said Young.

“Today’s decision does not affect the festive trading hours for this year but will come into operation for the 2024 festive season.

“I feel today’s decision to have a varied start date strikes a balance between the concerns raised by both partner organisations and the hospitality trade associations. It gives us the opportunity to be flexible when deciding the start date meaning each year we can take into account the Christmas weekend.”