I’ve always thought myself to be quite an outdoorsy girl. Not in the hiking up mountains and plunging myself into ice cold water kind of way. But in the sense that I just love standing on the streets of Soho, with a pint in my hand, putting the world to rights with my mates. And it turns out that those magical moments could soon be a thing of the past as Westminster Council has recently announced that they want to put an end to ‘vertical drinking’.
The proposed ban on standing pints comes as part of Westminster Council’s new draft of licensing policy. The policy – which is currently out for consultation and comments from those who live in or visit the borough of Westminster – says that pubs should ‘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’. The policy then goes on to say that alcohol and food should be served ‘by waiter or waitress service only’.
Each of London’s boroughs operates under a different licensing policy. If Westminster’s new policy is approved, it would apply to Soho and the West End – two of the capital city’s largest nightlife hubs. New devolution laws, however, could give the Mayor of London power to create a city-wide policy via secondary legislation and have more of a say on these licensing decisions.
A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said: “This is more evidence that restrictive and anti-growth policies aren’t working. At a time when venues need our support more than ever, the rules on licensing are stacked against them. That’s why the new powers the mayor is getting from government are so important, as they mean the mayor will be able to call in licensing decisions and have a say in local policies to protect London’s vital nightlife and hospitality industries.”
You can review Westminster Council’s new proposals and have your say on them here.
