{"id":571635,"date":"2025-11-15T08:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T08:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/571635\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T08:23:09","slug":"buzzy-south-london-borough-lambeth-is-planning-a-tourist-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/571635\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzzy South London Borough Lambeth is Planning a Tourist Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years some of London\u2019s busiest tourist hotspots\u00a0have been\u00a0calling out for measures to capitalise on visitors and make things better for local residents. One such thing proposed to raise vital funds for local authorities is a tourist levy, which has been\u00a0considered by the likes of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan<\/a> (back in 2024) and northwest London borough Brent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You\u00a0might not expect Clapham<\/a> to be an area that\u00a0might\u00a0be among those soon to get a \u2018tourist tax\u2019 but, well, that could indeed be the case. South London council Lambeth<\/strong> is calling for an overnight levy to be introduced in the borough \u2013 and across London \u2013 which would see visitors charged a small fee on accommodation costs like short-term lets and hotels.<\/p>\n

Liverpool<\/a>, Edinburgh<\/a> and Manchester have already adopted similar schemes. It was reported that Manchester\u2019s tourist tax raised \u00a32.8m after the first year<\/a>. So how would\u00a0a levy potentially benefit Lambeth?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lambeth includes Brixton, Clapham, Vauxhall, Streatham and Norwood, which may seem like mainly neighbourhood areas, but this borough is also home to some major attractions including the London Eye<\/a>, the National Theatre<\/a> and the Southbank Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The South Bank<\/a> attracts tens of millions of people each year, with around 200,000 nighttime visitors every weekend. In a petition<\/a>, Lambeth Labour said: \u2018We\u2019re incredibly proud of this, and we want to do everything we can as a council to expand and strengthen our borough as a leading destination to visit and live in.<\/p>\n

\u2018The revenue from what Lambeth Labour calls the\u00a0\u2018Love Lambeth Levy\u2019\u00a0could be allocated towards public realm improvements, such as street cleaning and general upkeep and maintenance of the borough and promote Lambeth as a leading destination to visit and enjoy.\u2019<\/p>\n

But some businesses think the tax could be harmful to trade. A shop owner in Brixton Village<\/a> market told Metro<\/a>: \u2018It\u2019s a terrible idea for Brixton as we already have issues with footfall. Taxing people on top of that, in this\u00a0economy, is not going to help.<\/p>\n

\u2018We don\u2019t need any more disincentives to come in the area and stay. We just need ways of encouraging people and not adding an extra barrier to it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Founder of the Brixton Village shop Guzzl Andrew Murray-Watson said: \u2018I\u2019m not opposed to the idea, but it has to be properly managed and reinvested back into the community or the benefit of residents and tourists.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Lander from the Bristol pizza chain Pizzarova \u2013 which recently opened in Pop Brixton<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 told Metro he didn\u2019t understand how it would work if people weren\u2019t charged for staying in Westminster but would be if they stayed in Brixton.<\/p>\n

Looking for more things to do in Brixton? We\u2019ve got you covered. Here\u2019s our ultimate guide to the lively south London neighbourhood<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0<\/strong>follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up to our\u00a0<\/strong>free Time Out London newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recent years some of London\u2019s busiest tourist hotspots\u00a0have been\u00a0calling out for measures to capitalise on visitors and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,6419,393,4884,257,6420,6417,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-571635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-news-city-life","14":"tag-things-to-do","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115552754383253544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}