{"id":100319,"date":"2026-08-09T20:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T20:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/100319\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T20:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T20:29:14","slug":"london-could-ban-standing-at-the-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/100319\/","title":{"rendered":"London could ban standing at the bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ll have to sit down for this one \u2026<\/p>\n

The UK council for the heart of London is pushing a bonkers new policy that would ban drinkers from standing up while having a drink.<\/p>\n

The Westminster City Council \u2014 which oversees one of the busiest nightlife districts in Europe \u2014 wants to ban what it labels \u201cvertical drinking\u201d in a bizarre bid to cut down on drunkenness, according to the Guardian<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is one of those making a stand against the crazy plan that could crush the $5 billion-a-year bar economy in the central part of the UK capital.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Westminster City Council \u2014 which oversees one of the busiest nightlife districts in all of Europe \u2014 wants to stop boozers from standing at the bar to order a drink.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestrictive and anti-growth policies aren\u2019t working,\u201d Khan told the Guardian in a scathing criticism of the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when venues need our support more than ever, the rules on licensing are stacked against them,\u201d the city\u2019s mayor said, adding that he will use his powers as an elected official to fight the law with local policies he said will \u201cprotect London\u2019s vital nightlife and hospitality industries.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The daft \u2014 sorry, draft \u2014 proposal calls for pubs to ditch \u201cvertical drinking\u201d in favor of table service<\/a>, telling bars they can only get a license if they add seating and sell liquor and food \u201cby waiter or waitress service only.\u201d<\/p>\n

This would \u201cdiscourage 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,\u201d the proposal claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim with this Statement of Licensing Policy is to promote a well-managed and varied day, evening and night-time, that delivers economic growth and social value \u2013 while also operating safely and responsibly and protecting the essence of our city,\u201d the Westminster City Council said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe Westminster City Council is pushing a new policy that would kill what they described as \u201cvertical drinking,\u201d which is when patrons enjoy their pint standing up. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The council, however, also acknowledged in the same statement that Westminster is home to the country\u2019s largest concentration of licensed premises and the UK\u2019s largest evening and nightlife economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city is home to iconic spots like the London Palladium, the Royal Opera House and the Comedy Store, with surrounding businesses in the borough pulling in up to $5 billion per year and employing around 80,000 Londoners, according to the council.<\/p>\n

Those figures could drastically drop if the new law is passed, experts warn.<\/p>\n

\u201cStanding in pubs has always been part of Britain\u2019s pub culture. It\u2019s how people meet friends, watch live sports,\u201d Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association in the city, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cEncouraging policies that favour more seating and reduced standing space risks changing the very character of these venues while reducing capacity, increasing operating costs and limiting flexibility for responsible businesses already under significant financial pressure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ll have to sit down for this one \u2026 The UK council for the heart of London is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[4250,252,27,6,46],"class_list":["post-100319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-bars","tag-europe","tag-london","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117067446312158200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}