LBC News spoke with Conservative Councillor Tim Barnes, Westminster City Council's deputy leader and cabinet member for growth and planning, about claims the council is planning to ban "pavement pints." Cllr Barnes categorically denies this, explaining the council is simply carrying out a legally required five-yearly refresh of its licensing policy, with wording largely unchanged from previous versions. He says the story stems from a couple of paragraphs taken out of context from an otherwise lengthy (40 to 60 page) document, which he calls a "deliberate and willful misreading."
Pressed on the policy's "presumption against" new venues, and whether a pub offering standing-only outdoor drinking might effectively be blocked, Barnes says the interviewer has conflated two separate things. The presumption against relates to a long-standing rule (tied to the Mayor of London's policy) limiting the total number of new venues in the Central Activity Zone, the densely packed West End area, not a new restriction on outdoor or standing drinking. He points to a pub that just opened in Covent Garden (The Lady) as proof new venues with outdoor drinking are still opening, and notes there are around 900 pavement licenses across Westminster, about 600 of them in the Central Activity Zone, none of which are being tightened. He mentions visiting a Soho/Victoria Street pub at lunchtime and posting about it on social media to counter the story.
"We haven't been banning people from standing up in pubs over the last ten years, and we have no plan on doing it in the future."
Asked about Sadiq Khan calling the policy "restrictive and anti-growth," Barnes accuses the Mayor of wanting to seize control of licensing powers for himself. He says Westminster refuses only about 1.5% of license applications, and that it's the Metropolitan Police, directed by the Mayor, who object to nearly all new applications on crime grounds. His view: Khan should properly resource the police rather than using police objections to block new venues.
"Sadiq Khan should stick to giving the police the resources they need so they can keep us all safe, and then he wouldn't have to get the Metropolitan Police to object to every new license."
Finally, asked directly whether a new hypothetical Soho pub ("the Hanson Arms") maximising pavement drinking would be refused, Barnes says not outright, though practical limits would apply (such as keeping pavements passable), adding jokingly that he'd want an invite to the opening night.
Watch Cllr Barnes' interview with James Hanson above or in full online.
