Monday July 27th 2026
Photo by Amie Johnson
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Some Edinburgh residents reported lock-ins at nearby pubs during June – only for them to be showing World Cup matches within the law.
Council trading standards manager Tom Veitch told councillors at Monday’s licensing board meeting that complaints about venues in June were double those in ‘previous years’.
Eight referred to venues involved in screening World Cup matches in particular.
He added: “Those complaints tended to be about noise management of the premises or residents reporting what they believed to be lock-ins, for example, when it was actually in relation to the additional hours granted by the board.
“It’s worth mentioning that when we did visit, we did always find the football on on every occasion, so we didn’t have issues with venues not complying.”
Mr Veitch also said that no enforcement action had to be taken in relation to the World Cup, and that on visiting premises enforcement officers issued informal advice and guidance.
The licensing board approved extended opening hours for venues screening World Cup matches in February this year.
Police sergeant Grant Robertson told councillors that no identifiable increases in alcohol-related disturbances had been seen in Edinburgh during the World Cup.
He added that no concerns had been raised about the two fan zones in the city, and that the overall number of public nuisance complaints were low.
At Monday’s meeting, committee convener and Liberal Democrat councillor Louise Young noted that the council had expected granting extended hours would lead to more complaints than usual.
She said: “I think we always anticipated that there would likely be some increased noise complaints from making this provision available.
“So it’s, I suppose, maybe encouraging to hear that it wasn’t excessively so, but notably so.
“And obviously that is something we can be taking into account for any kind of future consideration on something like this.”
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