How much happy hour is a good thing? New Pennsylvania liquor rules nearly double the length of happy hours each week.

Longer happy hours are coming to Pennsylvania, starting Friday, under new state rules that will allow bars to extend their discounting from 14 to 24 hours a week.

This and other new rules, overwhelmingly supported in the legislature and backed by industry groups as potential boons for both customers and owners, are a sign of a loosening of Pennsylvania’s liquor laws.

The state also is allowing bars to sell up to two discounted combination meals a day, such as a burger and beer or a glass of wine with a steak. Also, bars may include two drinks in the price of a ticket to create a “self-sponsored event,” such as a Super Bowl or New Year’s Eve party.

The changes follow the recent approval of canned cocktails in retail outlets beyond the state-run Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores and making COVID-era outdoor seating regulations permanent.

It remains to be seen how many bar owners will take advantage of the happy-hour extension, which was first raised last year by Tom Tyler, president of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association and owner of McStew’s Irish Pub in Levittown. The PLBTA and the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association were invested in the laws’ passing.

Many Philadelphia-area bar owners queried by The Inquirer seem satisfied to offer specials for 10 hours a week, as they have been — in a traditional pre-dinner slot on weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. or 5 to 7 p.m. Some bars add a two-hour block in late evenings; by law, all happy hours must end by midnight and may not exceed four hours at a clip.

Under previous happy-hour regulations implemented in 2011, they may be offered for no more than four hours a day.

The bulk of owners’ praise was for the new legislation allowing the drink-and-food bundles — a seemingly run-of-the-mill concept that had run afoul of the 90-year-old code.

Where is the harm in selling a list-price $7 beer and a $15 burger for $20? Prohibiting specials “really didn’t make much sense,” said Heather Ransome, a hospitality consultant. “It looks like some of the blue-law vibe is being shaken off. It really shows that the state is loosening its grips.”

Randal Mrazik, a partner in Center City’s Tavern on Camac, U-Bar, and Otto’s Taproom, said the combos promote deeper customer engagement. “It’s not like, ‘I’m going here for my happy-hour cocktail and then I’m going to another place for another happy-hour cocktail,’” he said. “I like the idea of people coming in and spending time with us and eating a meal.”

Brett Naylor, an owner of Wilder, a Center City restaurant, said his restaurant can now tie combos and ticketed events into football games and the like, “creating an opportunity for a special visit,” said Naylor, who is also considering a modest extension of Wilder’s happy hour.

At Twisted Tail in Society Hill, co-owner Codi Reilly said happy hour begins at the restaurant’s 4 p.m. weekday opening, “so it just gets the night going and the staff motivated.” Twisted Tail plans to add a 10 p.m.-to-midnight happy hour Friday and Saturday.

Booker’s in West Philadelphia will keep its 5-to-7 p.m. weekday happy hour, but general manager Jeremy Page, said expanded hours “could potentially be beneficial to us during the summer months when nights are longer and we may explore attracting a late-night happy-hour crowd.”

Happy-hour pricing must take into account already slim profit margins. Pizzata Pizzeria in South Philadelphia offers generous discounts on drinks and full portions of pizzas, meatballs, and other foods weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. To partner Davide Lubrano, extending the deals into dinnertime with a longer happy hour potentially “brings a lot of sales down. One other thing we realized in the past, the more happy hour you do, the more you’re sending a message that people are coming in for this and nothing else.”

Jeff Newman, who opened Hi-Lo Taco Co. in Washington Square West last November, called happy hour “a good traffic driver. Especially as a new business, it’s a great way to build loyalty and get people to give us a shot at a lower price point. But we’re also hesitant. How much of our sales do we want to discount?”

Justin Coleman and Kelvin Alexander at Bake’n Bacon in South Philadelphia said they were thinking about increasing the weekday happy hours but would offer the specials exclusively at the bar. “We have a beautiful bar,” Coleman said. “It’s an incentive for people to come in and feel like they’re getting more of a deal. Those who want to sit at the regular tables [and order dinner] can still do what they want to do.”

The P.J. Whelihan’s chain, which does the happy hours from 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays, plans to offer six additional hours of promotion — from 8 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.

Still, that is 16 hours. Although most local bars won’t come close to using all 24 hours a week (which would mean four hours of specials, six days a week), “there was a general feeling that [it] gives our members more creative opportunities for marketing purposes,” said Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. He said bars in central Pennsylvania, where he is from, may consider adding late-night happy hours after football games.

“The creative bar owner can take advantage of these extra hours to pull in new customers,” Moran said. “They can test it and see if it’s for them. It’s not going to be for everybody — that’s for sure.”