Below is a letter to all London borough leaders and chairs of licensing from Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, and Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor for Business.
The letter encourages all councils to support al-fresco dining and late-night openings during this spring and summer period to boost our economy and tourism.
It comes following the Government’s announcement that London has been selected to take forward a landmark pilot to support hospitality, leisure and tourism in our city through new strategic licensing powers for the Mayor.
The letter is published as received below.
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Supporting London’s Night-Time Economy: New Licensing Powers and Next Steps
We are writing to update you following the Government’s announcement that London has been selected to take forward a landmark pilot to support hospitality, leisure and tourism in our city through new strategic licensing powers for the Mayor.
This is an exciting moment for London and an opportunity to work together. We are keen to learn from the expertise and experience of licensing officers from across London, so that our approach as a city to licencing reflects the broader economic, social and cultural value of a thriving night-time economy, while maintaining community safety and wellbeing.
We are keen to work together with you to ensure the capital does all it can to drive growth and prosperity through our thriving culture and nightlife.
We will shortly be consulting on the design of the pilot which we hope will help us assess how new powers can be used effectively and fairly, and to better understand the types of decisions that may benefit from Mayoral intervention.
Your feedback and ideas are important, and we will be inviting your designated cabinet lead for licensing to a roundtable alongside your borough colleagues in the coming weeks. Please do let us know who your cabinet lead is and whether they would like to join.
In the meantime, we know we all want to see our city’s hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors have a successful spring and summer period.
These industries have faced significant challenges with rising operating costs and the ongoing cost of living crisis that is affecting consumers. Yet London’s pubs, clubs, theatres, restaurants, hotels, and cultural venues are not only critical to our economy—they’re the lifeblood of our communities and a key reason people choose to live, work, and invest here.
Growth is our shared number one priority. The London Growth Plan, jointly published by City Hall and London Councils, made clear how critical the hospitality and cultural sectors are to our city’s economy. Whilst much of London’s economy has recovered strongly from the pandemic, the hospitality sector faces significant challenges.
We encourage you all to do what you can to support popular and exciting ideas like al-fresco dining and late-night openings during this spring and summer period to boost our economy and tourism offer in our capital this year ahead of the pilot coming in.
City Hall will continue to champion and promote the best of what our capital has to offer this spring and summer, and we encourage boroughs to consider what more we can do now, together, to support these sectors over the coming months.
We look forward to working with you all closely as we move to make licencing policy work better for London.
With best wishes,
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, and Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor for Business
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