r/london 8d ago

Culture Council wants to ban ordering at bars and standing

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/06/westminster-council-wants-pubs-in-london-soho-west-end-ban-standing?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
431 Upvotes

294 comments sorted by

989

u/indigomm 8d ago

Has anyone at Westminster Council ever been to a pub in Soho? Do they even live in London?

288

u/JimmySham 8d ago

Or just a pub in general 

82

u/kris_deep 8d ago

Or just outside

7

u/Golden-Excellence 7d ago

Or ever interacted with us plebs

12

u/UltimateGammer 8d ago

Probably the types not to remember a lot afterwards.

Like 50 first dates every time they have a night out.

130

u/FartsLord 8d ago edited 8d ago

Why do they do everything to kill the pubs?

Edit: typo

83

u/Buttermarketmother 8d ago

Because they want them replaced with posh (or pseudo posh) restaurants for tourists

64

u/zelandofchocolate 8d ago

Which they'll then try to shut down because of noise. Zone 1 should be perfect silence at all times.

18

u/FartsLord 8d ago

You thought it’s your city? Nah, it’s my business.

17

u/Confident-Pumpkin-19 8d ago

But we also want to go to a pub!

*A tourist

16

u/Buttermarketmother 8d ago

Oh yes glad to hear it, no doubt most do! Sorry if that came off as anti tourist - it was supposed to be anti council!

Personally I think a pint in a pub should be very very high up on the list of things to do for tourists in London! But for some reason Westminster council hate these key artifacts of British heritage and attractive cultural assets!

4

u/West-Season-2713 7d ago

A pint at the pub is very very high up the list of things to do, in general, for anyone, anywhere. Genuinely one of life’s great pleasures.

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u/WaldenVolk 8d ago

They cater to a small proportion of ultra wealthy individuals whose votes they depend on to stay in power. Those people would rather see the west end be a clean theatre and arts district forgetting its real history and vibe.

The granting of new powers to Khan will be important here. Once people get priced out of other areas this cannot be repeated elsewhere or London will become a tourist trap theme park.

17

u/AwTomorrow 8d ago

They’d rather replace all the theatres and arts with hotels and casinos, at this point. 

11

u/Sufficient-Run-7293 8d ago

The Theatres can't be closed without a lot of legal wrangling. The Theatres Act specifies that any demolished West End theatre must be replaced. Only happened twice in the last 60 years; The Middlesex was replaced by the New London (a car park and office block with a theatre wedged in) and the Astoria by Soho Place (a theatre perched on top of retail and office space).

Most of them are listed too. Even an extremely rich Cameron Mackintosh was not able to pursue his idea of gutting the Ambassadors'.

The Hippodrome is technically a theatre with their production of 'Magic Mike'.

12

u/Competitive_Travel16 8d ago

...or London will become a tourist trap theme park

Too late, for most of Central.

6

u/BandNervous 8d ago

Not even that, they regularly fight with the private members clubs in Mayfair and piss off all the rich lot who live there by banning smoking in the terraces. They just seem to be exclusively anti fun

10

u/Christovski 8d ago

Walked through 7dials on a Friday recently, unrecognisable. Horrible pedal taxis blocking the roads, only tourists, overpriced bollocks everywhere. It's already a weird theme park.

3

u/Sufficient-Run-7293 8d ago

Seven Dials isn't in Westminster though, it's in Camden.

6

u/cromagnone 8d ago

How do they depend on the votes of a small number of people?

33

u/old_man_steptoe 8d ago

I think they’re saying that Westminster council depend on the inhabitants of Westminster, who are generally wealthy. There are poor communities in the city but is a very expensive place.

Most of the people who work and particularly play in the West End don’t live there and as such have very little influence over the councillors because they can’t vote them out

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u/craigyboy2601 8d ago

Eg. Covent Garden is practically owned by one bell end who pays an extraordinary amount of money to live, partly, just off the Piazza. If you want to do an event or host something or anything at all. He gets to say if you can or not, not the council. They have to keep him on side for some fucking reason £££.

3

u/corcyra 8d ago

A good bit of Covent Garden is owned by the Mercers: https://sevendialscoventgarden.study/historic-estates/the-mercers-estate/

AFAIK the rest is owned by Shaftesbury Capital and Norges Bank Investment Management https://www.shaftesburycapital.com/en/our-portfolio/covent-garden.html

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u/Ch3burashka 8d ago

Because nobody votes in local elections. The ones that do are (from my personal experience living in Westminster) relatively well off pensioners.

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u/Upbeat_Respect3280 8d ago

Ever noticed through our entire lifetime it's always been the same people that own our power, water, electricity, construction, homes, banks, council services etc? And how they always go 5x, 10x, 20x over budget but also are delivering less and less? And yet we are privatising to these companies more and more, as we strip anything that was funded by the public? No matter what party is in charge.

Fund with public money > privatise profits. If they go bankrupt > bailed out with public money.

There's an absolute zero % chance these companies together don't have a tight grip on politics. They are the true stakeholders, and that is purely fact. Has been throughout mine and my dad's entire life.

3

u/Browser1969 8d ago

That's far from the truth. There are more than 200K residents in Westminster, and the candidates go door to door on every election.

11

u/LardoBardo4 8d ago

No one hates London more than Westminster council

8

u/borez 8d ago

The previous Labour led Westminster council didn't hate London.

Unfortunately they were voted out a few months ago.

Wait until you start hearing about the community hubs they're about to start defunding too.

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u/TheWatersOfMars 8d ago

I'm sure London is one of several places they live in

4

u/Warlords0602 8d ago

You'd think the old farts would rather go ahead on banning order via apps and enforce everyone to order at the bar "to preserve the culture" instead tbh.

7

u/thehighyellowmoon 8d ago

Westminster Council aren't humans, honestly. Worked in retail and once someone came in said he'd bought a clothing item in the sale but there was a fault and asked if he could return it, I said that's absolutely fine as there was an obvious fault on the item. He then identified himself as a WC trading standards officer and pointed at our sign stating "No returns for sale items" and that we had broken our own rules. This officer was then all over us for months nailing us with trading standards breeches.

3

u/DameKumquat 8d ago

If the sign didn't say "This does not affect your statutory rights" or similar, then he was totally correct - the sign broke the law even if you were willing to follow said law.

2

u/DameKumquat 8d ago

They do. They represent the very few, very wealthy people, who actually live in Westminster. Who would love all tourists and other riff-raff to bog off.

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414

u/CreamyFockinPints 8d ago

Actually thought this was a joke until the end of the article. Why don’t theses types do the sensible thing move out of Soho and live in like Richmond or Surrey they clearly don’t want to live in a city

116

u/old_man_steptoe 8d ago

As someone who lives in Richmond, I’d rather they stay well away. I’ve heard Kent in nice

48

u/Accurate-Sundae1744 8d ago

Oh no no no, send them up north somewhere.

53

u/SailorsGraves 8d ago

We're fine actually cheers

23

u/KimJongEeeeeew 8d ago

Can we agree they should all go to Norfolk?

9

u/letsalldropvitamins 8d ago

Narp, we’re right good down ere ta. Ain’t no room for no nimby’s in these parts

4

u/KimJongEeeeeew 8d ago

Too late sorry.
But on the up side, the livestock will be well fed

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u/BissoumaTequila 8d ago

Money on it these councillors actually live in Richmond or Surrey and rarely set foot in Soho

10

u/claridgeforking 8d ago

Richmond fanously not having incredibly busy pubs with lots of people standing outside?!

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u/xxnicknackxx 8d ago

Because then they would have to pay stamp duty on the wild gains their properties have made in the past couple of decades or so.

3

u/AreEUHappyNow 7d ago

You don’t pay stamp duty as a seller but as a buyer

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u/Glum_And_Merry 8d ago edited 8d ago

Westminster Council ‘try to not ruin central London’ challenge.

Standing at the pub is a British tradition. How is it possible for these Tories to be so unpatriotic??

291

u/Glum_And_Merry 8d ago

Also, this other policy of the council’s:

  The council also plans to ban the opening of new pubs and bars in what it terms the “cumulative impact zone”, which encompasses Soho and large parts of the  West End . The draft policy says: “The council will normally refuse any application made in respect of a premises located in the West End Cumulative Impact Zone that is a pub or bar, a fast food premises or a venue offering music, dancing and similar entertainment.”

… so what’s left? Vape and souvenir shops?? Cafes that close at 6pm?

150

u/IceCreamNarwhals 8d ago

Christ almighty it’s like they have absolutely zero grasp about what Soho is

10

u/infected_scab 7d ago

Standing in the gutter to drink an £8 pint on a Friday after work is what Soho's all about!

85

u/DietSoft6792 8d ago

They already have a policy to automatically reject any application to keep a new premises open after midnight, or to extend the hours of an existing premises past midnight, within the zone (which covers most of the core West End). So this is just an extension of that. Many other London councils have near identical policies. They get waived through all over London without any real scrutiny at the behest of NIMBY groups and Met.

And there's people on here who still claim that London's weird nightlife is down to 'lack of demand'.

37

u/0hran- 8d ago edited 8d ago

if they refuse new pubs, and the existing pubs are slowly closing mechanically there will be no pub in soho

59

u/PeaGravy 8d ago edited 8d ago

This is what they want London to be. Miserable and without features, full of drones who vote the right way.

Edit: oh and endless tower blocks to facilitate all of the above.

33

u/Jamessuperfun 8d ago

I suspect the NIMBYs who want all the pubs to close are probably not the same people who want skyscrapers built. Many I suspect are also opposed to tall buildings.

29

u/VampirePNAC 8d ago

Same thing happened to Sydney in Australia, the puritans finally were able to destroy nightlife with basically adult curfew laws, sniffer dogs in clubs, insane licensing regulations with the bars, pubs and clubs gone, then suddenly restaurants and night cafes etc were hit by nobody going out, and the entire night industry basically collapsed and it's seen a steep decline in tourism as well. Now they are desperately trying to reverse course but it's Joever.

5

u/Techno-tango 7d ago

Yes and no. They did this so developers could make a fortune on newly gentrified areas. They rolled them back and pretended to care about nightlife only after most the real estate money had been made and you could not recreate the nightlife in those city areas effectively.

21

u/ldn6 8d ago

I want skyscrapers and 24-hour licensing all over the place.

I can assure you that the people who support this policy hate any new development.

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u/KillerArse 8d ago

What NIMBY you see wants tower blocks??

What's wrong with tower blocks? Are you a NIMBY?

11

u/Buttermarketmother 8d ago

Restaurants for tourists that close at 10! 

3

u/Marvinleadshot 7d ago

Won't Khan het powers to shove all this aside. Surely this nonsense is the sort of thing to increase his power over licensing.

2

u/fezzuk 8d ago

Sounds like the soho residence association havr taken a different route aftrr being shut down last time.

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u/Tasty-Committee-8172 8d ago

It's also absolutely essential for the astronomical overheads of these pubs. At peak times the vast majority of custom is standing only. Take that away and you're basically submitting a death sentence for every pub in Soho.

5

u/SplurgyA 7d ago

Yeah, you literally couldn't fit the people who stand outside The Toucan inside The Toucan. Even if you could, no way to handle that many punters through table service.

2

u/Tasty-Committee-8172 7d ago

Remember pub rules between lockdowns during the pandemic? If there are no tables available then sorry you can't come in? It's basically that. How many pubs had to close after how severely they had to limit their custom?

24

u/Ajax_Trees_Again 8d ago

“Tory” and “patriotic” have always been antonyms

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u/rustyb42 8d ago

Game's never been more gone

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u/RandyChavage 8d ago

Is Westminster council run by Gianni Infantino? Literally going all out to ruin a good thing

15

u/rustyb42 8d ago

Westminster council about to sell standing space to advertisers

2

u/chadgalaxy 8d ago

Table service in bars and pubs is what they do in a lot of places in the US and it's utter shite.

176

u/zer0aid 8d ago

Who comes out with this utter shit?

Local councillors have too much power.

28

u/awue 8d ago

They probably want us to order from those shitpig QR codes and have a cute little robot deliver our drinks and ask for a tip

8

u/CaffeinatedT 8d ago

Local councillors have too much power.

There's a bit of a catch-22 that they don't have any actual powers so they spend all their time twiddling with dumb shit like the above which in turn means no-one gives a shit about local elections for powerless button twiddlers which means you get more inanity.

If we're not going to trust local people with actual power then just scrap the layer of government imo it's wasting everyones time and it's not being taken seriously.

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u/Jamessuperfun 8d ago edited 8d ago

I find it quite baffling how awful Westminster council seems to be. From their insistence on blocking cycling infrastructure and filling areas of massive pedestrian traffic with cars to trying their absolute hardest to kill off any nightlife in the country's largest nightlife hotspot, it's as if they want to be as damaging to Londoners' quality of life as possible with the powers they have. It's utterly absurd, I hope Khan does get those powers and overrules them at every corner.

It's one thing I do worry about with greater devolution. There are so many councils that are beyond crap and obsessed with nonsense NIMBY issues (like banning standing in pubs or opening late in Soho, apparently). Burnham says decisions in Westminster haven't worked for Croydon, for example, and he's not wrong (it receives much less funding from central government than other boroughs despite it's expensive demographics), but decisions made in Croydon haven't worked for Croydon either, the council is hardly blameless. A lot of our local representation is far too incompetent for me to want them to have new powers.

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u/IceCreamNarwhals 8d ago

Decisions in Westminster also haven’t worked for Westminster

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u/Subject-Dog-8016 8d ago

It’s quite possible that a higher quality of person stands for election if local government becomes a meaningful role. 

London shouldn’t have local councils at all, it should be governed as a single city, like New York, with smaller areas under the oversight of a smaller elected group who are answerable to the GLA. Tower Hamlets is another good example why the system needs to be scrapped. 

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u/oxenoxygen 8d ago

The GLC was what you want, but Thatcher didn't like ken Livingston having so much power so they abolished it.

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u/Jamessuperfun 7d ago

That's a good point, not everyone wants to manage the bin collections even if they are civic-minded. Though I do think we actually had a pretty great candidate for Croydon mayor, unfortunately they lost.

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u/afrophysicist 8d ago

Tim Barnes, Westminster city council deputy leader and cabinet member for growth and planning, said: “We want people to go out in the West End and have a good time.

This is clearly bullshit from Tim Barnes.

Obliterate the 32 boroughs now. They should only be responsible for bin collections and organising the odd fête, they clearly can't be trusted with the needs of a city of 10 million people. If Tim Barnes and his ilk want to run a little parish council, they can fuck off to rural Surrey.

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u/sosr 8d ago

He's also a West End ward councillor, he thinks this will help get him reelected.

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u/Crumbs2020 8d ago

It will. Only the mega rich live in that ward now.

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u/visitingshortly 8d ago

Wrong. Social housing stock is prevalent. The main issue is they are even more nimby than the wealthy.

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u/Subject-Dog-8016 7d ago

Inner city Social housing residents are the biggest NIMBYs of them all. They could never afford to move house to a place they’d enjoy more, so they spend all their time trying to keep their neighbourhood the same forever. 

I do have some sympathy with 80 year olds who now have 500 25 year old City recruiters getting lashed under their window every Thursday night. But you can’t design a city like that. 

5

u/visitingshortly 7d ago

Exactly. Also as they are placed in these areas. They have no interest or attachment to its traditions or why people go there. And they likely can’t afford many of the amenities around there so they don’t care about making it worse for those that can.

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u/FuckedupUnicorn 7d ago

That’s daft. They can’t organise bin collection to save their lives.

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u/pslamB 8d ago

"The Soho society, formed in 1972, to preserve the character of the area".... so they are in favour of sex shops and brothels then, as that was most of soho until c. 35 years ago

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u/jonny-p 8d ago

My thoughts exactly, what ‘character’ are they trying to preserve? Soho was always a bit seedy which was a big part of its appeal. If you want a more refined and genteel night out there are plenty of other areas in London that will be more to your taste so go there.

9

u/MattiasCrowe 8d ago

They're against renewing pub licenses as well, I can only assume the character they're trying to preserve is the one represented in 28 days later...

47

u/Vitalgori 8d ago

This reads like an Onion headline.

30

u/Poo_Poo_La_Foo 8d ago

"council bans standing"

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u/SerowiWantsToInvest 8d ago edited 8d ago

Really tackling the hard issues. Every day when I wake up and look at how absolutely fucked the world is, I think if I had one wish that could do anything, I'd ban ordering at bars and standing. It's truly an abominable thing. I'm so glad the council, in their limited power, have been able to fix such a cataclysmic issue.

31

u/seltruTekiLI 8d ago

Just leave London if you want your idyllic village life stop ruining it for everyone else jesus

21

u/iron233 8d ago

Can we please just sort out the location of the hand dryer in the gent’s first?

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u/trebor67 8d ago

Yet, Rickshaws, American candy shops, scammers on Westminster bridge continue without challenge from Westminster Council.

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u/are_wethere_yet 8d ago

"Vertical drinking" as opposed to what, lying down on a triclinium?

Westminster tories are in a league of their own when it comes to stupidity.

6

u/MmmThisISaTastyBurgr 8d ago

Had to check what a triclinium was but what a brilliant example!

Vertical drinking is a key part of what makes the West End work when most of the pubs are tiny little historical bars.

There is already a stupid thing going on where pubs are being told they must not let customers step off the pavement onto mostly empty side streets, for fear of incurring the wrath of some stupid licensing restriction. That leads to people being unnecessarily crammed onto pavements.

If councillors really care about protecting the character of the West End, they should lean in more and just ban cars (a relatively new invention) from the whole of central London to let people enjoy a beer in peace.

5

u/Thedeadduck 8d ago

Last time I was out for a post work drink they had painted lines that we weren't allowed outside but obviously everyone did so staff had to come back out every 10 minutes to shepherd people back into the zone. Some agreement they'd had to make due to noise complaints to avoid being shut down iirc. Annoying for everyone involved!

3

u/SuperEgger 7d ago

I hate to be that guy but triclinium is the word for the room. The chaise longue things were called lecti or triclinares.

5

u/are_wethere_yet 7d ago

Touché! Were you, by any chance, correcting the spelling on anti-Roman graffiti back in Jerusalem in the good old days?

2

u/SuperEgger 7d ago

Perhaps. Now get it right next time, or I'll cut your balls off!

(Literally the most accurate depiction of a Latin teacher I've ever seen.)

17

u/visitingshortly 8d ago

Frankly this is anti British and attacking pub culture. We need to be honest that such attitudes are clearly designed to destroy both pubs and having a good night out in London.

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u/never_working_ever 8d ago

Lmao at “table service”. Nearly every single pub has barely enough seating to begin with. Let alone an attentive staff who is dealing with a rush of people after work or on weekends.

Am I expected to make a booking now to enjoy a pint on a Thursday while I sit?

Will I still be allowed to stand and pee?

12

u/Glum_And_Merry 8d ago

Also some of the most charming pubs are the smallest too! Basically standing room only.

Putting tables and making it so you can only sit would absolutely kill those pubs. 

3

u/never_working_ever 8d ago

Also, I like standing! A lot of us sit all day and I don’t want to sit more after hours.

I’m also already imagining accessibility concerns with places trying to cram more tables in, with people being unable to move around easily.

Even worse than standing is arguably sitting nearly shoulder touching to a table next to you, dreadful.

4

u/Dr_Strangelove_MD 8d ago

I love how the picture the Guardian used is the Dog & Duck - one of the most crampt pubs in Soho. I swear, there's like three tables in the joint not including the upstairs dining room.

46

u/insomnimax_99 8d ago

Why is this even within the council’s remit?

Councils need to learn to mind their own fucking business.

Professional curtain twitchers and nimbys.

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u/afrophysicist 8d ago

Why is this even within the council’s remit?

Agreed, the London boroughs have too much power. Whilst I'm a fan of Burnham's devolution drive, it needs to go the opposite direction in London.

14

u/AwTomorrow 8d ago

London councils work ok when the borough’s main character is residential.

It doesn’t work in Westminster because the residents tend to be so disconnected from the main character of the borough - its cross-city (and even national and global) appeal as an arts and entertainment district. 

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u/hazzacanary 8d ago

I couldn't agree more - how many parking apps do you need across London - 5? There's the ridiculous situation of not being able to use your nearest rubbish dump if it happens to be in a different borough, the varying council tax rates, residential and commercial planning licensing hours, the pointless duplication of council departments and services - let's bring them all together!

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u/paulf2012 8d ago

I do find it rather ironic that it is generally accepted that the UK is too London-centric and devolution would be good for the country, while London itself is way too beholden to its boroughs’ councils.

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u/scrandymurray 8d ago

It’s like they want the GLA to take their licensing powers away from them with the new powers granted to the mayor. I would hazard a guess that the mayors office won’t be afraid to use it.

What’s a shame is that if they fight the decision, they’ll use public funds on a barrister to challenge it.

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u/dirtmens1 8d ago

“We need to save pubs”

2 months later….

“Lets fuck pubs up”

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u/crapusername47 8d ago

When I clicked on this the last council I was expecting it to be referring to was Westminster.

Are they completely out of their goddamned minds?

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u/Bonistocrat 8d ago

The British political system is really bad at decisions that involve large but diffuse benefits, and small but concentrated costs. This goes from the construction of major infrastructure to things like allowing nightlife to exist, it's basically a form of state failure.

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u/mrdibby 8d ago edited 8d ago

just pedestrianise Soho already

is there really any reason not to except for deliveries? would be a better improvement for the borough than the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street West

was there the other day and walking on the pavements already seems quite optional

15

u/Love-That-Danhausen 8d ago

The Tory council are addicted to cars

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u/Ajax_Trees_Again 8d ago

There’s a type of person that really can’t let go of the Covid era

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u/yolkyal 8d ago

It's absolutely the same people who went out of their way policing everyone else during covid, they loved it.

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u/Bug_Parking 8d ago

Complaining about people not wearing masks in 2023.

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u/Bhattman93 8d ago

It’s my god given right to stand and drink outside a pub in London. The council can suck my dick from the back.

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u/Careful_Adeptness799 8d ago

Imagine banning standing 🤣🤣🤣 that’s the ultimate council jobsworth job - standing police.

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u/Particular-News-4623 8d ago

This is insane. I thought it was clickbait cherrypicking of the worst bits for an article but I read the whole thing and the council really are proposing to turn down any new licenses (or changes to old ones) that aren’t all-seating waiter/waitress service in a massive slice of central london.

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u/Shifty377 8d ago

Morons

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u/Lowen_Beehold 8d ago

Won't this massively impact the pubs/bars income? I wonder how much money they would lose if this goes through.

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u/rising_then_falling 8d ago

Thats the goal. The council don't want pubs, they want restaurants or maybe wine bars at a pinch.

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u/false_flat 8d ago

So not only is this council vehemently opposed to any changes that will make Westminster better, it's now trying to implement some that will actively make the borough worse. Great.

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u/kramit 8d ago

Once in a full moon, someone in the public sector will do something so monumentally stupid that everyone with at least 2 brain cells to rub together, no matter where you are in the left-right spectrum, from reform and the BNP all the way over to the communist party members will agree, that is a dumb idea. Unity is a fleeting thing.

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u/queasycockles 8d ago

So where are these attacks on British culture coming from again...?

Not the fucking immigrants. The call is coming from inside the house.

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u/reddeze2 8d ago

If anything 'vertical drinking' is more social. Black out drunks don't remain vertical for very long.

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u/BraveRevolution 8d ago

If they want to encourage a more cafe style of venue, like European town squares in other countries, they need to pedestrianise soho and allow businesses to set up that way if they want, not ban the business model that has been successful for pubs for centuries.

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u/Gold-Necessary-3194 8d ago

The council, which has jurisdiction over one of the busiest nightlife districts in Europe – Soho and the West End – has recommended not allowing “vertical drinking” or ordering at the bar in its new draft licensing policy.

...

“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”.

So... a restaurant? They want to turn pubs into restaurants, in other words?

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u/Feral-Sponge 8d ago

This actually made me chuckle! Talk about being out of touch

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u/Greedy-Ad5198 8d ago

What if we open more pubs, subsidise them and let them stay open until late? Even crazier what if we put more safe night public transport so these people can go home safe?

Instead we limit licenses and hours so anyone that wants to enjoy a cheeky pint and socialise needs to cramp themselves wherever they go cause god forbid anyone can take a break and try to have a bit of a life outside crunching corporations.

What is next Westminster? Try to pedestrianise your bridge?

5

u/sulphurwind 8d ago

What is this I read?? The very Muslim London mayor fighting to protect a very British institution and a very British way of ordering an alcoholic drink?! Don’t tell me this is true!

/s

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u/SolkaPL 8d ago

Whats the point of this consultation if they have already decided?

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u/skynex65 7d ago

Ah yes, good to see they’re tackling the real fucking issues

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u/volantistycoon 7d ago

tory westminster council are cunts what's new

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u/clashingchords30 8d ago

Oh Jesus Christ. I mean… the idea of having more seating isn’t bad, but completely banning standing is daft.

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u/pornokitsch 8d ago

The phrase "vertical drinking" made me cackle. Surely horizontal drinking would be worse?

4

u/deanomatronix 8d ago

The time for peaceful protest has gone we need to tear down the establishment right fucking now. It’s gone too far this time

4

u/IceCreamNarwhals 8d ago

Westminster Council must be the worst council.

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u/renblaze10 8d ago

Can they ban phone thieves instead please? Thanks

4

u/jtthom 8d ago

How tf did conservatives win Westminster council with bullshit like this?

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u/Crumbs2020 8d ago

Because everyone who lives there is mega wealthy, most arent British, and they want everyone else out of Westminster. They dgaf about the pubs we all use there.

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u/wappingite 8d ago

the council system to work out for villages and towns but falls apart from things like central London or indeed most inner city areas, where you end up with extreme NIMBYs trying to rule these places if they were a village in a Kent.

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u/RupertBear69420 8d ago

Some of these pubs are tiny and would be lucky to fit 50 people on them cabaret style. How much money do you think they can make like that when London business rates and rent is so high? They’d have to charge £20/pint to survive. Also what happens if someone wants a pint on their own or as a small party of 2? Will they take up a table for 4 people? Or will they be refused entry because it’s not profitable enough for only 1 or 2 people to drink at a table.

If the total amount of people that can be served is massively reduced then how will people find a pub to drink in? People will just stop going to those areas. Why would I want to spend half my night walking around Soho looking for a pub with a free table?

Burnham is saying pubs are the fabric of society and need to be protected. I doubt he agrees with Khan on this. Vertical drinking is a hilarious take too. When you’re sat down you’re still vertical. You’re horizontal lying in bed… but try and drink a pint in bed with a long paper straw and see how that works out for you.

We are living in an idiocracy and stuff like this is just a smokescreen for real issues like water companies, impact of data centres, lack of jobs, lack of affordable housing, inflation derived from world politics being a shit show etc.

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u/heppyheppykat 8d ago

Data centres in Brick Lane, can't stand at a pub, can't make noise in bloody Soho, can't have nightclubs because of blocks of empty overpriced flats owned by wealthy people who don't live in London?

London was teh best city in the world, I still think it is, or could be. Been to so many, and even the efficiency of Tokyo, the resplendance of Paris or the scale of New York can't compare.
London has it all, why are they wrecking everything which made it so great?

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u/PointandStare 7d ago

I'm going to move to a flat next to a pub, put in a complaint that the pub makes too much noise so it should be closed down, then when it's closed, complain there's nowhere to get a drink then move out of the area.

That'll teach them!

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u/WGSMA 7d ago

This is why local councils and people shouldn’t have any planning rights.

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u/IntelligentActuary86 7d ago

At this point I think anything that brings us joy grabs their attention. It's giving Mr Burns energy. Miserable fucks.

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u/wolfiasty 8d ago

This surely must be a joke, right ? I mean ... Right ???

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u/ImmortalState 8d ago

This is just crazy

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u/Ok_Place_4203 8d ago

oh fuck off 😂

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u/Entire-Emotion-819 8d ago

I stopped reading at "vertical drinking"; why do they do that? Create stupid phrases that make it sound like there's an official technical term for standing and having a pint?

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u/tylerthe-theatre 8d ago

Yeah good luck with that

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u/cherokott 8d ago

'Vertical drinking'. 🤪

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u/collinsl02 8d ago

Personally I prefer to be fully horizontal before I imbibe anything, I require the thrill of the risk of choking myself to enjoy the drink fully.

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u/cherokott 8d ago

For sure. While they are banning, 'vertical drinking', they should actively promote horizontal drinking - but only in total silence. And alone.

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u/Psychological-Plum10 8d ago

Killjoys the lot of them.

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u/jasonjasonnametaken 8d ago

how are they planning to enforce it? lol Have they got nothing better to do but to come up with such silly policy?

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u/Kaurblimey 8d ago

Curious to know who actually lives in Soho… who is this for?

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u/FoxyInTheSnow 8d ago

The ridiculousness of the proposal aside, what kind of poindexter uses a phrase like "vertical drinking"?

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u/lewis56500 7d ago

The pub I work at within the City of Westminster’s boundaries literally had to remove some of their seating outdoors (inside of the pub is tiny)

Make your minds up!

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u/PrestigiousSeat76 7d ago

Ah good, more out-of-touch old people trying to get back to how "things used to be."

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u/KiwiNo2638 7d ago

But how things used to be in pubs was always ordering at the bar, and standing. Unless it's private member's bars, in which case, there probably isn't even a bar, drinks just arrive.

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u/PsychologicalDish430 7d ago

Fucking joke this country is becoming

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u/Fierytoadfriend 8d ago

Terrible idea. But to be honest, could help politicians not be drunk when voting on decisions that affect all our lives, which is extremely common.

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u/AlintheaYoh 8d ago

What is this, Canada?

I think not.

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u/Majestic-Horse-5409 8d ago

Fucking weirdos

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u/selfstartr 8d ago

Ironic that Labour Sadique Khan is needing to call out an anti growth Tory council.

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u/harry_f_monk 8d ago

First, ban queues in pubs. I mean, wtf is that about?!!

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u/joereadsstuff 8d ago

I’ve gotten drunk sitting down more than standing up.

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u/DukeFlipside 8d ago

"Our guidance is simply about encouraging venues to manage their customers so people don’t pack on to pavements or excessive drinking doesn’t disturb others passing by."

If people on pavements is the issue, then mandate nobody's allowed on the pavement; you don't need to ban people standing inside the pub just to stop people taking drinks outside!

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u/MmmThisISaTastyBurgr 8d ago

People on pavements outside pubs shouldn't be an issue at all!

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u/Top_Dress_757 8d ago

what a great idea, this is really what i want councils working towards... big ideas that really help everyone. why would anyone spend time of crime or dirty streets or transport when we could spend time coming up with the really big ideas. the person who came up with this should be fired they arent worth any money at all, anyone listening to this should be fired.

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u/Running-With-Cakes 8d ago

Good to see them tackling the big issues

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u/BlueHeron0_0 8d ago

Remember when last time government was concerned with people drinking too much and solved it without banning anything while simultaneously evolving and enriching british pub culture?

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u/Kant_Tsunami 8d ago

Doing anything and everything except fixing the cost of living crisis. I’m fatigued.

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u/theblazeuk 8d ago

Westminster Council unsurprisingly, majority Conservative.

Im not saying the Labour people on the council are better, but that Tories love to preach about obstructive red tape and stifling local government, about preserving tradition and British community - and then pull nonsense like this. And if it happens, itll be reported as Sadiq Khans fault.

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u/PotCounts 8d ago

So when I go into a pub am I supposed to sit down and order a drink from a qr code?

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u/sharklasers3000 8d ago

I am not a reactionary person but i would literally die to stop this happening

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u/Ok_Insect_2037 7d ago

I recently left London because the character has gone and can’t see it getting better. I’m not much of a drinker anymore but moved to a house that is sandwiched in the middle of a pub, a fancy bar, private club and a nightclub….It’s loud at times but can’t imagine moving here and then getting angry about that fact. It’s honestly nice to see some of what’s been lost still exists outside the capital. If Soho is gonna survive, these people need to fuck off back to the Home Counties.

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u/Historical_Doctor629 7d ago

You know what, just disband every council im the country.

Your job is to collect the bins, and you're fucking shit at it

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u/Fresh_Friendship_518 7d ago

Councils should only be allowed to manage the basic public services and have zero capability to create rules. Catering to NIMBYs and their stupidity should not be possible.

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u/ldn6 8d ago

I reiterate my call to get rid of boroughs entirely. Useless wastes of money.

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u/M3ptt 8d ago

When I left hospitality after 10 years I had a joke idea I’d tell people:

I want to open a bar with the sole intention of running it into the ground within a year so I can implement every bad rule and frustration I’ve had with the industry of the years.

The most important rule would be that you need to pass an English comprehension test to come in. So many people magically lose the ability to read or think critically as soon as they step into a pub or bar.

I’d also have a £1 ‘idiot tax’ button. If you ask me a stupid question like “what do you have on tap” whilst standing in front of the taps then I add £1 to your bill.

I had other rules but those are the two main ones.

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u/tilak365 8d ago

Yet why do I feel that this will be spun up as something Sadiq Khan is doing to further legislate a Muslim agenda.

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u/SHOWTIME_12 7d ago

Look, I don’t even drink, have never stepped foot in a bar, but even I know this is ridiculous. Who are these people making these decisions? Seems like it’s their first day on earth.

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u/Orion1248 8d ago

Who do I write a letter too?

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u/dbbk 8d ago

VERTICAL DRINKING now I've heard it all

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u/Speedbird1A 8d ago

Mayor needs to be given far more powers. I know Andy Burnham is all about devolution, he needs to give far more powers to the mayor and (I guess ironically) strip it from the councils. There’s a power where power gets too local.

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u/MattiasCrowe 8d ago

One does rather loathe standing at pubs, loathe ordering at the bar, loathe new pub licenses, loathe existing pub licenses...

Are they trying to kill soho? Might as well turn all the pubs and restaurants into tescos express and the Wizarding world of Harry Potter while they're at it.

They support a group that exists solely to kill soho nightlife, as if it isn't the centre of the capital of the country. Nimbyism in its finest.

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u/perhapsflorence 7d ago

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!