Westminster is at the heart of London’s diverse hospitality and visitor economy. It is vital that we find the right balance between residents, visitors and businesses.
Labour in Westminster has launched Westminster After Dark, which lays out their ideas to bolster Westminster’s nightlife, and the public is being asked to have their say.
Key recommendations include:
- All new licensed venues will need to show they are prioritising women’s safety, with a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and predatory behaviour.
- Encouraging non-alcohol-led activities at night such as extended retail hours and later museum openings
- Setting up Westminster’s first Late-Night Entertainment Zones on Oxford Street, The Strand, and Victoria Street to encourage music, theatre, and creative venues to set up on wide streets with good transport links and few residents.
- Prioritising support and protection for culturally significant LGBTQ+ spaces, ensuring they continue to thrive as safe and inclusive venues.
- Lobbying Transport for London (TfL) to restore night bus services and expand safe, reliable transport options after dark.
- Creating opportunities for our residents to work in Westminster’s thriving hospitality, creative, and cultural industries
- Encouraging venues to host sensory-friendly ‘quiet nights’ with reduced noise levels, dimmed lighting, and designated calm zones, to provide venues for neurodiverse people to enjoy Westminster After Dark.
While this plan addresses some much-needed areas of local policy we, as local Conservatives, are worried that it may be ineffective and does not contain any plans to deliver the strategy. Some of the ideas seem designed to just send signals rather than being genuinely impactful.
However, we will not be opposing the parts of the plans that will be positive for Westminster just for the sake of it. We will make our own submission before the consultation closes, but we also want to know what you think.
Share your thoughts with us, now!
It’s crucial that residents and local businesses are actually listened to, rather than ignored as has happened with other Labour consultations. So please share your thoughts with us but also respond directly to the Labour Council's consultation online here. The consultation closes on 22 June.
Join the official Westminster After Dark consultation
Best wishes,
Paul
Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE
Leader of the Conservative Group
Westminster City Council
PS We don't believe in opposing everything the Labour-led Council does, just for the sake of it! The future direction of our night-time economy will impact all of us, so please share your views with us.
