Galway City Council has announced the launch of Café Lates 2026, an expanded Night-Time Economy pilot initiative supporting cafés to extend their opening hours and deliver non-alcohol-focused evening experiences across Galway City. Find out more here...
Originally launched in June 2024 in response to strong public demand for café culture after 6pm, Café Lates has become a key diversification initiative within Galway’s evolving nighttime economy. The programme supports cafés to trial later opening hours in a lowrisk, supported way, while also broadening the city’s midweek evening offer and providing more inclusive options for people socialising in the city at night.
Since its launch, the pilot has demonstrated demand and clear positive outcomes for participating businesses. Between September and December 2024, thirty Café Lates events were delivered across five cafés. This momentum continued throughout 2025, with more than forty events delivered by eight cafés between May and June, and again from August through December. Participating businesses received not only programming support but also dedicated communications and marketing assistance, helping them to attract new audiences and build visibility for evening activity.
Welcoming the launch of Café Lates 2026, the Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr. Mike Cubbard, said; "Café Lates is a great example of how Galway is reimagining its evening and nighttime economy in a way that is inclusive, creative and community focused. This initiative supports local cafés, while giving people more choice in how they experience the city after 6.00pm. It reflects our ambition to create a vibrant evening city that works for residents, visitors and businesses alike."
Café Lates 2026 continues to focus on driving evening footfall, supporting cafés to diversify and grow, and broadening Galway’s nonalcohol evening offer. Events take place from 6pm onwards and include creative, cultural and social programming designed to appeal to a wide audience, particularly those seeking alternatives to traditional nighttime activity.
The value of the initiative has been endorsed by participating businesses. One previous participant commented;
"Café Lates was a fantastic lowrisk way for us to pilot a completely new market. It gave us crucial data to make confident business decisions, helped us evolve our brand, and allowed us to optimise a space that will now be used at night. It’s opened up a whole new market that we’ll continue to grow in 2025."
— Wylde Café, Forster Street
Expressions of Interest are now open to cafés located in Galway City Centre and Salthill. Participating businesses may propose either a weekly Thursday evening programme or a monthly Café Late taking place on the last Thursday of the month. The 2026 pilot will operate across two periods, from April to June and again from August to December. Find out more here.
Cafés interested in participating are encouraged to apply and explore how Café Lates can support business growth while contributing to a more vibrant and inclusive evening city.
The deadline for Expressions of Interest is 2 March 2026. Further information and application details are available at www.galwaycity.ie.
Café Lates is delivered as part of Galway City’s NightTime Economy programme and is funded by Galway City Council and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
