About

Oi, You Got A Loicense For That, Mate? refers to a catchphrase and slang term parodying Britain and the greater UK's reputation for overregulation. The meme, which takes on an exaggerated cockney accent in the word "loicense," originated in the 2010s as a joke about UK police officers demanding licenses or issuing summons over things like TV licenses, knives, or public smoking. The meme resurfaced in 2025 in response to the UK's new internet safety regulations introducing age verification for social media, with memes portraying officials asking for a "loicense" to browse the internet or post memes.

Origin

Memes about Britain's reputation for overregulation began gaining notable traction in 2017 in response to UK laws prohibiting knives in public without a "good reason."^[1] According to a Metro^[2] article from June 2017, 73-year-old Alzheimer's sufferer David Litherland was tasered by police while holding a butter knife in his care home, prompting memes about UK police asking for butter knife "loicenses."

On November 24th, 2017 9Gag^[3] user @dr_scotti posted a meme about the butter knife case, writing, "Oi you cheeky wanker, you got a loicense foh that buttah noyf?" and gathering over 10,000 upvotes in eight years.

Spread

The subreddit /r/Loicense^[4] was created on August 2nd, 2018, gathering over 26,000 members in seven years. Webcomic artist Stonetoss posted a "loicense" meme on June 26th, 2018.^[5]

On December 26th, 2018, Redditor /u/maxstokes1 posted a 4chan greentext about British overregulation to the /r/greentext^[6] subreddit, gathering over 4,000 upvotes in seven years.

On May 29th, 2020, 9Gag^[7] user coolstorybro658 posted a meme comparing American police forces to British ones, joking about the British police officer asking a goose for a knife license. The post gathered over 7,000 likes in five years.

On March 3rd, 2021, Redditor /u/dcrockett1 posted a "loicense" meme to the r/PoliticalCompassMemes subreddit,^[8] gathering over 16,000 upvotes on a post captioned, "Texas vs Britbong."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References