‘It is British life’: Downing Street vows to stop councils trying to restrict standing in pubs

Westminster council has recommended banning ‘vertical drinking’ or ordering at the bar in new draft licensing policy

No 10 has vowed to confiscate powers from local councils which try to restrict customers from standing up while drinking in pubs or ordering at the bar.

It comes after the Guardian revealed on Thursday that Westminster council in central London recommended not allowing “vertical drinking” or ordering at the bar in its new draft licensing policy.

The draft document, now out for consultation, recommends that pubs applying for new licences allow only table service rather than bar ordering. It also suggests new pubs in popular nightlife areas including Soho call last orders at 10pm, to reduce noise and disturbance.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Busy pubs full of people talking to each other is not a public nuisance, it is British life, and it is thousands of jobs.

“The government is devolving new licensing powers to the mayor [of London] to help support pubs and nightlife. Soho did not become world famous by taking last orders early, switching the lights off at 10 o’clock.

“The prime minister encourages local leaders to work with the industry so that pubs can continue to thrive.”

The government is due to grant new powers to the London mayor, Sadiq Khan , allowing him to “call in” local council decisions he opposes.

Khan said of the proposals on X: “You can’t run a world-famous nightlife district with a village-hall mindset.”

A spokesperson for the mayor previously said he was against “restrictive and anti-growth policies” and said he hoped to use new powers to be granted to him by the government to stop councils from overreaching.

The draft policy says 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”.

It goes on to recommend that sales of alcohol and food should be “by waiter or waitress service only”.

Operators of pubs and bars in Soho have criticised what they see as overly restrictive licensing policies and said the proposals could kill off West End nightlife.

Paul Swaddle, the Conservative leader of Westminster council, denied the plans amounted to a ban on “vertical drinking”.

He told the Press Association that newspapers had carried “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 Khan’s criticism, he said: “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.”

The council also plans to ban the opening of new pubs and bars in what it terms the “cumulative impact zone”, encompassing Soho and large parts of the West End.

Areas such as Victoria and Mayfair will also face restrictions on new openings if the draft policy is made official.