A pub off Trafalgar Square is having its licence reviewed following complaints of drinkers “standing on the wrong pavement” and being loud.
The Walkers of Whitehall at 15 Whitehall says it has robust systems in place to stop patrons wandering onto the wrong side of the street and operates a 9pm cut-off for customers drinking outside, according to a report before Westminster City Council.
A request for a review was submitted in August claiming residents feared for their personal safety and were fed up with the noise caused by drinkers outside the pub. They claim as many as 100 people converge in a small alleyway into Craig’s Court, off Trafalgar Square, to drink, pee on doorsteps and shout.
They said many pour onto pavement that doesn’t belong to the pub and claim they’ve engaged “numerous times” with the premises but received no response.
A submission reads: “I find this very intimidating. I often have to navigate through groups of people who are intoxicated… On one occasion I had to do this whilst one of the customers yelled [and] advanced towards me and on another occasion whilst another customer was urinating less than five feet [away].
“This is entirely unacceptable. Walkers of Whitehall is a large pub (albeit in the basement) – there is no need for the public sidewalk to be used [as] private pub property.”
The applicant, who has not been named, said only 12 people should be allowed to consume alcohol outside before 9pm and limit the number of people allowed to smoke or temporarily stand outside after that hour to four. They also called for “sufficient measures” to prevent litter or waste, and stopping deliveries, waste disposal and collection between 11pm and 8am.
They called for promotional boards and other barriers to be removed from the pavement. Others wrote in support of the review saying the pub produced “unacceptable noise levels”.
Young’s, which owns the pub, promised to stop patrons gathering outside after 9.30pm, save for smokers, which they would limit to 10 people at a time. They’ve also vowed to make sure customers conduct themselves in an “orderly manner” while outside and to supervise the area and to curtail waste and recycling collections.
Walkers of Whitehall pub near Trafalgar Square, London. Credit: Google. For use for all LDRS publications.
A letter from the premises licence holder said these condition had been in place “for some time” and that customers are kept on the pavement and don’t impinge on the road or cross to the opposite pavement as historically they have done.
They wrote: “There are still on occasion, a significant number of customers outside the premises but this tends to be only at key trading periods, for example early evening, particularly on a Thursday when the weather is good, but when this does happen customers are well behaved, monitored by management and staff, and are inside the premises (other than for smokers) by 9pm.”
They also said photo evidence of people coalescing outside the pub had no date stamps, were either taken before new management took over or show people who were not customers to the pub.
They said other than a request by the council to remove a board on the pavement, the premises has not received formal enforcement action. Westminster City Council’s Licensing Committee will meet Thursday, November 27, to consider the application.
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