Council Wants Pubs to Ban Standing - Khan Steps In

Westminster Council is proposing licensing conditions that would ban standing in pubs across Soho and the West End. The Guardian reports the council wants to restrict vertical drinking, while GB News says Sadiq Khan has vowed to intervene against what he calls "restrictive policies".

The proposal targets new licensing applications in the busiest entertainment districts of central London. The council has not yet published the full rationale, but the measure appears aimed at managing capacity and disorder in areas already dense with licensed premises.

The machinery here is licensing law - councils set conditions on new licences, but the Mayor can call in decisions under the Greater London Authority Act. Khan's intervention sets up a procedural fight: does the council's public-order concern override the principle that a pub is a place you stand in? The question is not really about chairs. It is about which authority decides the character of London's nightlife, and whether "managing" an area means managing it into something else.

Watch whether Khan follows through - he has the power to call in the decision, but using it puts him visibly on one side of the who-decides question. And watch whether other councils adopt the model if Westminster succeeds.