Licensed Premises

Mr. Pickles
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate his Department has made of the number of licensed premises in England and Wales that have a terminal hour, on at least one day of the week, after 11 pm.

Mr. Sutcliffe
The Department does not hold detailed information on the licensed hours of the 177,200 licences and certificates that were in force in England and Wales on 31 March 2007. The actual closing times of a premises may, in any case, be earlier than the terminal hours granted on its licence. Data from the on-licensed trade suggest that 60 per cent. of outlets stop selling alcohol by 11 pm and that, on average across all on-licensed premises, closing times have increased by approximately 20 minutes since the Licensing Act 2003 came into effect.