Edinburgh pubs barred from early Sunday opening

Pubs in Edinburgh have failed in a bid to open before 1230pm on a Sunday.

A group of 26 pubs, including those around sports grounds such as Murrayfield, Tynecastle and Easter Road, had wanted to open earlier on some Sundays but were blocked from doing so.

However, supermarkets can sell alcohol from 10am on Sundays.

"The board has discussed this at great length and we are unanimous in this view," said Councillor Marjorie Thomas, the city's licensing leader. "We have taken the views of the licensing forum and the board found that we need to give the community some breathing space.

"There is also the whole issue of public health and alcohol. To increase licensing hours at this time is not acceptable."

The Scottish Beer and Pub Association slammed the decision for going against the board's own licensing policy, which states it will allow on-sales premises to trade from 9 am seven days a week.

"The irony of course is that the Edinburgh board have allowed those off-sales premises which wanted to trade from 10 am on a Sunday to do so for some time already," said SBPA chief executive Patrick Browne.

"It is very unlikely that many pubs in Edinburgh would have wanted to open every Sunday but there is a case for allowing some premises to do that to allow them to better cater for Edinburgh's tourists.

"At the very least the Edinburgh board should now refund the fees paid by the 26 licensed premises that lodged applications to trade on a Sunday morning as allowed by the board's policy, given that the board have effectively turned their own policy on its head by rejecting their applications which were submitted in good faith."