Camden set to dramatically relax Licensing - Do you want restaurants and bars in your neighbourhood open until 2AM?
We all enjoy a thriving night-time economy and Camden has one of the best, from Bloomsbury and Seven Dials in the south of the borough to Camden Town. And even places like Hampstead, Belsize, West Hampstead all have high streets with bars, pubs, restaurants and cafés. We eat there and we socialise there.
But unlike Camden Town or the West End, in Hampstead, in Belsize and in West Hampstead, these venues know when it’s time to close. Camden Council has a licensing policy which sets Framework Hours for the serving of alcohol and venues are allowed to serve booze any later only with permission.
These hours are:
Monday to Thursday 10:00 am until 11:30 pm
Friday and Saturday 10:00 am until midnight
Sunday 11:00 am until 10:30 pm
This is because Camden Council has to balance the needs for businesses to prosper and thrive with the needs of nearby residents to be able to live their lives in peace, including a good night’s sleep, safety from antisocial behaviour, not to mention possible crime and harm to children.
And areas like Camden Town and Bloomsbury/Seven Dials have special policies in place because there are too many restaurants, bars and clubs as it is. They can’t open a new venue- the presumption to refuse- without some very specific conditions attached to them.
Camden Labour in co-operation with Mayor Sadiq Khan and his unelected deputy mayor Amy Lame’ are now proposing to change framework hours to 2AM. And they are doing so with no consultation with residents and over the Police’s objections.
This means that restaurants and bars on West End Lane, Hampstead High Street, Heath Street, Belsize Village could be open until 2Am every night, with all the attendant noise, disruption and potential for crime. As many of you reading this live near or even on high streets, this will impact you.
And for Camden Town and Bloomsbury, Camden Labour propose to remove the presumption to refuse unless a consultation is done- and we all know what a Camden consultation is like! So more and more bars, restaurants and pubs can flood the area. And this is also being proposed without proper consultation with local residents and – again- over the police’s objections.
If, like us, you share in our dismay over Camden Labour’s proposed changes here is what you can do:
- Write to the members of the licensing panel, asking them to reject the upcoming proposals. You can write your comments to the Committee Clerk [email protected]
- Write to your local ward councillors to likewise ask that they reject these proposals and make this known to the Licensing Committee. Ward Councillors can be found here.
- Attend the Licencing Committee and ask to speak in a deputation against it. The meeting has been cancelled twice now, we await a new date!
We want Camden Labour to withdraw these proposals and to re-consider a better way to enhance the night-time economy- not at the expense of we who live here.
Many objections can be best summed up by the letter in the CNJ recently from the many residents groups in the Bloomsbury & Covent Garden area here
Cllr Gio Spinella
Conservative Cllr, Frognal and member of the Camden licensing panel
