Council urged to rethink curbs on nightlife in London's West End

Lord Sadiq Khan has told town hall chiefs to rethink proposed curbs on nightlife in London's West End.

In a letter to Westminster City Council, London's mayor said that its proposed licensing policy would undermine his efforts to support London's pubs by treating the city's nightlife as a "luxury".

He said that under the licensing system, "make or break" decisions were "skewed towards the interests of a handful of highly vocal residents and councillors, without giving enough weight to the effects on London's wider economy and culture".

In a statement to Sky News, Westminster City councillor Tim Barnes called the criticism "simply a relentless power grab of licensing laws" and called for the London mayor to address "the real challenges to the industry".

It comes amid a row over restricting standing-up drinking in London, which followed the publication of the council's draft alcohol policies encouraging venues to prioritise sitting areas over standing space in a bid to discourage so-called "vertical drinking".

Paul Swaddle, the Conservative leader of Westminster City Council, said "there is no plan" to stop standing-up drinking in his borough.

Included in the authority's draft policy is 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 proposed policy 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, including 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.

In response to Westminster's consultation on the policy, which closed on Sunday, Lord Khan urged the council to reconsider and scrap the proposed presumption against new licenses in Soho.

He also said policies that emphasise an evening economy ending at 10pm, and expect pubs, restaurants and nightclubs to close by 11.30pm on weekdays and midnight at weekends, are "overly onerous and archaic".

"Ultimately, this is about the kind of city we want London to become - a place where the rules which govern public space serve the common good for the benefit of all," he added.

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No 10 also asked Westminster City Council to change course, with a spokesperson saying: "Busy pubs full of people talking to each other is not a public nuisance, it is British life and it is thousands of jobs."

"Soho did not become world famous by taking last orders early, switching the lights off at 10 o'clock," the spokesperson added.

Laws passed earlier this year mean Westminster is legally required to consult Lord Khan on licensing rules.

Councillor Tim Barnes, deputy leader of Westminster City Council and cabinet member for growth and planning, said: "We talk to pub and bar owners all the time, and their real issue is not licensing - it is the ever-mounting costs being loaded on them by central government, with venues facing rising bills and the increasing cost of employing staff.

"Cuts to policing mean people are worried about safety when they go out and an inadequate public transport network which doesn't allow them to go home when it gets late. Both of these are squarely the responsibility of the Mayor's office.

"If the Mayor was genuinely interested in helping the pub industry rather than simply a relentless power grab of licensing laws, he would address the real challenges to the industry."

(c) Sky News 2026: Council urged to rethink curbs on nightlife in London's West End