Laravel how to get the url to be what is in the .env

I currently got my env file looking like this:

APP_URL=http://localhost

When I run the project using artisan command (php artisan serve), I get the following path:

http://127.0.0.1:8000

However the above link doesn't work instead I get a 404. To access my website, I am using the below link:

http://localhost:8000/

I am not sure why its not using what is on the .env file which it should be (http://localhost)

Please can someone help me solve this issue. I have been trying to google about this but there's not much it says on the website.

I am using Laravel 5.8

Thanks

via Chebli Mohamed