Downing Street has intervened in a row over draft Westminster City Council policies that would encourage pubs to favour table seating over standing space, after London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan criticised the proposals. A No 10 spokesperson said busy pubs are "British life" and thousands of jobs, urging local leaders to work with the hospitality industry, while noting the government is devolving new licensing powers to the Mayor. The row matters because it touches on the future of Soho's nightlife and wider debates about how councils balance noise and crime concerns against supporting hospitality businesses.

Westminster's Conservative leader, Paul Swaddle, insisted there is "no plan" to ban standing drinking and said the draft policy, out for public consultation until Sunday 9 August, has been misrepresented in the press. The document does include a measure, CIP1, to normally refuse new licences in the West End "cumulative impact zone" covering Soho, Leicester Square and the area between Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square, and references reducing "vertical drinking". Sir Sadiq Khan said Soho could not be run "with a village-hall mindset", to which Swaddle retorted that the council approves over 98% of licence applications and accused City Hall of directing police to object to new licences. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has pledged to be a "defender" of pubs, recently announced a 20% business rates cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues from April.