LONDON (AP) \u2014 A proposal to limit \u201cvertical drinking,\u201d a bureaucratic euphemism for having a pint while standing, has turned into a political headache for one local government council in London.<\/p>\n
Politicians from Prime Minister Andy Burnham to London Mayor Sadiq Khan have piled in to decry the idea from Westminster City Council, which is responsible for licensing pubs and restaurants in the West End, a nightlife hub popular with tourists and locals.<\/p>\n
A feature of many of those pubs is the crowd of drinkers who mill around sharing drinks with friends, often spilling out into the street on warm spring and summer evenings. Lesley Lewis, who has run the French House pub in Soho for 37 years, said discouraging that tradition would only drive customers to other parts of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe rely on those people standing up with the rents and the rates (taxes) put upon us,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople want to enjoy themselves in Soho, they want to have a drink outside, they want to dance. They don\u2019t want to sit down and just be where they are, they want to meet people and chat.\u201d<\/p>\n
With British newspapers filled with headlines such as \u201cSitting room only at pubs?\u201d and \u201cSoho\u2019s pubs won\u2019t take clamp down on \u2018vertical drinking\u2019 lying down,\u201d the Westminster council hit back at \u201cconfusing\u201d news stories that misrepresented its plans.<\/p>\n
Council leader Paul Swaddle issued a press release stressing that the proposal was part of a draft policy that is still open for public comment. The council\u2019s goal is to reduce noise and disorderly behavior by encouraging bars and restaurants to serve more people at their tables, not bar anyone from having a drink while standing, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me be clear about what we\u2019re trying to achieve,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThis is about safety, not stopping anyone standing at a bar with a pint in their hand.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s draft licensing policy includes a proposal to discourage \u201cexcessive drunkenness\u201d by encouraging business owners to provide more opportunities \u201cfor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Westminster has more pubs, bars and restaurants licensed to sell alcohol than any other local authority in the U.K.<\/p>\n
While the council\u2019s policy statement stresses the important role the hospitality industry plays in the local economy, it also says local leaders must ensure Westminster is \u201ca great place for residents to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t stop the criticism from more senior government officials, who have been focused on bolstering a hospitality industry that still hasn\u2019t recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Burnham said pubs full of people standing around sharing a pint isn\u2019t a nuisance, it\u2019s a part of \u201cBritish life.\u201d The prime minister is encouraging local leaders to work with the hospitality industry so that pubs can thrive, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pubs that we\u2019ve got are at the heart of high streets, and I think it\u2019s really important to signal at the start of my time in office that I will be a defender for them,\u201d Burnham told reporters last month while visiting a pub called the Hare in Harlow, Essex. \u201cI will speak up for them and act.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan suggested he would use new powers that will be granted to his office later this year to review the Westminster policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t run a world-famous nightlife district with a village-hall mindset,\u201d Khan said on X. \u201cLondon\u2019s hospitality and nightlife support jobs, culture and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON (AP) \u2014 A proposal to limit \u201cvertical drinking,\u201d a bureaucratic euphemism for having a pint while standing, has turned into a political headache for one local government council in London. Politicians from Prime Minister Andy Burnham to London Mayor Sadiq Khan have piled in to decry the idea from Westminster City Council, which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":6838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"adbc2628-7415-471c-aebe-b59f06caf5de","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"Danica Kirka","published":"2026-08-07 04:15:22","updated":"2026-08-07 04:15:22","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1303,1304],"tags":[],"region":[1280,1319,1299],"class_list":["post-6837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-world","region-canada","region-london","region-ontario"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6837\/plan-to-limit-vertical-drinking-decried-by-pub-landlords-and-uk-politicians\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Plan to limit ‘vertical drinking’ decried by pub landlords and UK politicians","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6837\/plan-to-limit-vertical-drinking-decried-by-pub-landlords-and-uk-politicians\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6837\/plan-to-limit-vertical-drinking-decried-by-pub-landlords-and-uk-politicians\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-587c78ccbe3785f467fed6b7aea8c27fbb3619d2dbb5a2f7fede09dd7247fcd0.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-587c78ccbe3785f467fed6b7aea8c27fbb3619d2dbb5a2f7fede09dd7247fcd0.jpg"},"articleSection":"International","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-08-07T11:15:22Z","datePublished":"2026-08-07T11:15:22Z","dateModified":"2026-08-07T11:15:22Z"},"rendered":"