Downing Street is responding to a dispute over draft pub licensing guidance that could restrict how customers drink in venues. After reporting that Westminster City Council’s new draft licensing policy recommends limits on “vertical drinking” and discourages customers from standing while drinking or ordering at the bar, No 10 says it is not backing away from national principles on pub drinking.
Both outlets report that Downing Street has urged Westminster City Council to “work with” pub landlords rather than impose restrictions that would prevent customers from standing while drinking or ordering at the bar. No 10 also frames such standing-up drinking as part of “British life,” and says it will not allow councils to use local powers to limit that practice.
The reports set the issue in the context of local licensing policies in central London. They also indicate No 10’s intention to challenge or remove powers if councils pursue restrictions aimed at changing the standing-drinking and bar-ordering habits in pubs.
