Entertainment & alcohol licensing

News: Not much to shout about in Soho!

  • Date: 17/07/2008
  • Author/Solicitor: Clare Eames and Piers Warne

It was only a few days ago that I commented in the trade press about my concern that the Sword of Damocles would fall on an operator soon in respect of issues regarding customers being outside pubs and bars in Soho.

My prediction has now come true in the case of the Endurance Public House in Berwick Street in London. The pub has had draconian conditions placed on the licence restricting customers going outside after 6pm in order to drink - and indeed even smoke or take a phone call!

The Westminster Licensing Sub-Committee, Chaired by Councillor Audrey Lewis sat to hear the review of the Premises Licence brought by the Environmental Health Officer, ostensibly on behalf of a resident who lives opposite the pub. The review application was supported by the Police, a second resident who did not attend the hearing and a third resident who had their representation rejected on the basis that they lived in America. Supporting the pub however were 36 local businesses and 10 traders from the Berwick Street Market as well a number of local residents from the vicinity. Many of these people took time out to attend the hearing which started at 7.30pm in the evening and, by the time the Council adjourned for the evening, agreeing to make a decision at some point in the future, we were well into the next day, sometime around 1am.

Unfortunately the Committee seem to have ignored a lot of the positive representations in order to come to the conclusion that "we are completely satisfied that the noise is indeed a serious nuisance". They also discounted the argument put forward that outside drinking in Soho was a "fundamental civil liberty".

The noise complained of was from customers spilling out on the pavement, admittedly at times in large numbers and making a normal amount of noise. The evidence was not that they were particularly rowdy, simply people doing what they normally do during a few beers after work. Given that this is the heart of Soho where there is substantial noise from traffic and other premises, a restriction of 6pm for people being outside for the purposes of drinking and indeed smoking (save for in an area specified at the rear of the premises) is draconian in the extreme. It amounts to a prohibition on street drinking at any premises where a resident feels that it interferes with their enjoyment of their home from 6pm onwards. This fails to take into account the fact that they chose to live in Soho and that street drinking has been part of the fabric of the area for a significant period of time.

The Licensing Sub-Committee went to great lengths to stress that there was no policy in Westminster for banning outside drinking but the evidence in this case would seem to indicate that outside drinking from Westminster Council's point of view is something that is only reasonable at times before people get home from work.

It is always a problem for licensees to try and control their customers once they are outside the premises but to prevent them from going out at all in an area where this is common practice and will still occur throughout the numerous other pubs in Soho. The question has to be asked however, how long will drinking on the street remain part of the vibrant Soho culture?

Like many smaller pubs in town centres and especially in London, stopping a premise from permitting its customers out on the street to drink is tantamount to closing the pub down. We wait to see if the decision will be appealed but given the commercial implications it most likely will be.

What is clear is that Westminster have sent a clear signal to licensed premises and it also may have the effect of "encouraging" further applications of this nature.

For more information please contact Clare Eames or Piers Warne