Westminster Council to ‘better explain’ vertical drinking term

Westminster City Council has published a revised licensing policy following a high-profile debate about what it called “vertical drinking”.

Last month, the Conservative-run council released a draft policy that encouraged pubs and bars to provide more seated areas in place of standing ones.

It was criticised by local businesses, the government and London’s mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, who said that you “can’t run a world-famous nightlife district with a village-hall mindset”. The council later clarified that it had not planned to ban people from standing as they drank.

In its latest statement, it said it was taking on board feedback to better explain technical terms like “vertical drinking”.

Westminster council licenses more than 4,000 pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants, including venues in Soho, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden.

It needs to update its current licensing policy – drawn up in 2021 – by 1 October.

In the draft plans, external that were published at the start of August, the council said it wanted 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”.

“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 read.

The guidance also suggested applicants for new licences should aim for “a predominantly seated operation with fixed seating”, alongside waiter service replacing vertical drinking and restrictions on customers consuming alcohol while standing.

The response drew criticism from the government, which 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.”

Soho Business Alliance, which represents businesses in the area, said: “It’s been like that for years where people are standing and drinking, it’s not causing crime, it’s not causing issues.”

Responding, council deputy leader Tim Barnes denied there was a plan to ban drinking while standing up in a Westminster pub.

“Suggesting otherwise is a wilful misreading of the policy proposals with clauses taken out of context,” he added.