Amsterdam’s coffeeshops may open no earlier than 07:00 and must close by 01:00, under a decision by Mayor Femke Halsema published in the Gemeenteblad, the city’s official gazette, on 19 October.
The rule applies to every business in the city that holds a tolerance statement from the mayor allowing it to sell cannabis, and it took effect the day after publication.
The hours themselves are not new.
What the decision does is stop coffeeshops from getting later closing times through the back door.
Why the mayor stepped in
The city is moving its rules on opening hours for bars, cafés and restaurants out of individual licences and into the omgevingsplan, Amsterdam’s new citywide zoning plan.
Under that plan, the hours a venue may keep depend on what its location is zoned for.
Most coffeeshops sit on sites that will be zoned for regular or medium hospitality, and the explanatory note says those sites will be allowed longer hours than coffeeshops keep today.
Without a separate rule, coffeeshops could have stayed open later along with every other bar on the same street.
The mayor has instead frozen them at the hours already written into their operating licences.
Residents and visitors
The note gives public order as the reason.
It says the sale of cannabis can bring risks to the surrounding area and add pressure on people living nearby, mainly because of customers arriving and leaving.
To sell cannabis in Amsterdam, a business needs both the mayor’s tolerance statement and an ordinary hospitality licence.
The city had 166 coffeeshops at the start of 2021, down from 283 two decades earlier, after years of efforts to reduce crime linked to the trade.
The decision itself does not say how many coffeeshops it covers today.
It also does not say whether there is a route to object or appeal.
Source: Gemeenteblad Amsterdam 2026, 485156, published 19 October 2026