Westminster City Council’s leader has denied any plan to ban “vertical drinking” despite the authority encouraging pubs to replace bar space with tables and chairs.
Business owners, however, fear draft policies could significantly squeeze venue space in central London areas like Soho, Oxford Street, Covent Garden, and the West End.
They warn Soho risks becoming “sanitised,” potentially driving customers to new watering holes elsewhere in the capital.
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan also criticised the proposals, writing on X that “you can’t run a world-famous nightlife district with a village-hall mindset”.
The policies are under consultation, with the town hall’s survey due to close on Sunday, August 9.
Westminster City Council’s draft statement of licensing policy includes an intention to “discourage excessive drunkenness and encourage the provision of more seating in premises that serve alcohol for people to sit and enjoy a drink and order food by table service in place of open bar space that caters for high volume vertical drinking”.
One policy, numbered CIP1, is to “normally refuse” pub, bar, fast food or music venue licences in an area known as the West End cumulative impact zone – the area roughly between Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square, taking in Leicester Square and Soho.
“The introduction of measures to reduce the extent of, or to remove opportunities for, vertical drinking could address the underlying reasons for the policy,” the document reads.
Paul Swaddle, Westminster City Council’s leader, accused the press of writing “confusing stories” about the document and added: “I want to be straight with people.
“There is no plan, and never has been, to ban drinking while standing up in a Westminster pub.”
Responding to Sir Sadiq’s criticism, he added: “We don’t need lectures from City Hall on backing hospitality when they have directed the police to object to every new licence application as their solution to curbing crime in the West End.”
He also said: “Growth is central to everything this administration is doing.
“That means backing our hospitality sector, not making things harder for them.
“We approve well over 98% of licence applications, we’ve just backed a 24-hour licence in the West End and a new pub in Covent Garden, and we’ve launched our own campaign to get people back out enjoying Soho this summer.
“That’s growth that keeps this city open for business.”
Sir Sadiq, the Labour mayor, had earlier said: “London’s hospitality and nightlife support jobs, culture and growth.”
Referring to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which this year gave the mayor of London new powers to set the direction of alcohol policies in the capital, Sir Sadiq added: “New powers for City Hall will help ensure decisions consider the wider benefits for our city.”
Lesley Lewis, owner of Soho’s French House pub and dining room, previously warned the policies could drive customers to other London boroughs such as Camden, which “are a bit more exciting and a bit more licence-friendly”.
She told the Press Association: “We rely on those people standing up with the rents and the rates put upon us.
“People want to enjoy themselves in Soho, they want to have a drink outside, they want to dance, they don’t want to sit down and just be where they are, they want to meet people and chat.”
Ms Lewis, 71, who has owned her business for 37 years, added: “I don’t think people will come to Soho if it’s that sanitised, it’ll kill it.
“It’s always had that little bit of naughtiness.
“Our restaurant might survive, but the bar supports the restaurant.
“I know a lot of people will be made redundant.
“I’m sure it’s the same across the board for anybody like us.
“We shall have to fight it on all fronts.”
A Soho Business Alliance spokesperson told PA: “I think they’re trying to reduce the capacities in these venues.
“It’s been like that for years where people are standing and drinking, it’s not causing crime, it’s not causing issues.
“It’s them trying to change the nature of Soho and it’s quite sad that they’ve gone to such lengths to sanitise the area.
“They don’t want the late-night economy.
“This policy completely contradicts the mayor of London’s London Plan.”
