Football supporters attending upcoming matches at Hampden Park will once again be permitted to purchase alcohol inside the stadium, as authorities continue to expand a trial project that began earlier this year.
The decision was confirmed after a licensing board meeting on Friday, where officials reviewed the outcomes of two earlier friendly matches held under similar arrangements. According to licensing lawyer Stephen McGowan, who addressed the board, both trial events passed without any problems.
"You granted essentially equivalent licences for the friendlies... I'm very pleased to say they both went well, there were no adverse incidents," McGowan told the board. "I think it was a good result for everyone involved with Hampden."
Under the new arrangement, bars inside the stadium will open at 17:45, roughly two hours before a scheduled 19:45 kick-off. Alcohol sales will then be cut off at 19:00, giving fans a 15-minute window afterward to finish their drinks before the match begins.
Access to alcohol will not be universal across the stadium, however. The hospitality bars will only be available in specific sections — the level five east bronze and level five west bronze concourses. Only supporters holding tickets for seats within these designated areas will be able to enter and purchase drinks, meaning the wider stadium will remain unaffected by the change for now.
McGowan described the upcoming fixtures as another phase in a broader, long-term initiative to potentially normalize alcohol sales at Scottish football grounds. He emphasized that the approach being taken is deliberately cautious, framing it as an