Conservatives’ boost to night-time economy

The Conservatives are today (Saturday 22^nd June) setting out a clear plan to boost the night-time economy and secure the future of Britain's pubs, bars, restaurants and music venues. 

A comprehensive review would be launched in the first 100 days to look at licensing laws, planning rules and other red tape that is unnecessarily holding back growth and adding operating costs for businesses in the nighttime economy. 

The review will explore crackdowns on councils setting disproportionate conditions and restrictions on licenses, and would aim to streamline regulatory regimes to make things simpler for businesses.  

It would also consider departmental responsibilities for the nighttime economy and will give particular consideration to a request from the sector for there to be dedicated ministerial representation for the nighttime economy. 

Alongside the review, the Conservatives would protect music venues by strengthening enforcement of the ‘agent of change' principle in the planning system. And we will work with local government and the private sector to make licensing hours data openly accessible so people can find out what's open late in their area. 

The new plan builds on the Conservatives' strong track record of supporting the nighttime economy. The sector was disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, which saw the nation's nighttime economy shuttered, and the war in Ukraine, which drove up food, drink and energy prices.  

Measures taken included freezing alcohol duty, extending business rates relief, expanding al fresco dining during the pandemic and introducing tax reliefs for theatres and orchestras across the country. Many of these important steps were made permanent to keep on supporting the sector. 

The action taken by the Conservatives to support the nighttime economy stands in stark contrast to Labour's appalling record. Wherever they are in power, they have made decisions that have negatively impacted the nighttime economy. In Labour-run London, Labour Councils have introduced unreasonable licensing conditions, and 3,000 bars and pubs have closed in London on Sadiq Khan's watch. And in Labour-run Wales, despite being given funding to maintain business rates relief Labour chose to slash back business rates relief and introduced crippling burdens on business. 

Kevin Hollinrake, Small Business Minister, said: 

“The night-time economy is a vibrant sector that's vital to our economy and our society as a whole.  

“We've always supported our nighttime economy, with business rates reliefs, economic support during the pandemic – but wherever Labour have been responsible for the sector, it's suffered.  

“We'll continue to back our nighttime economy – Labour would cripple it further with higher taxes and more burdensome regulation.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

Our Review will:  

Look at whether councils are setting disproportionate conditions/restrictions on licenses. Our review will consider whether the Home Office's statutory guidance for licensing could encourage targeted arrangements (so licensing hours and conditions are tailored for individual premises and circumstances, and cumulative impact areas are proportionate in scale) while discouraging standardised, blanket arrangements. In general, licensing policies should be tailored to the vicinity and individual premises. Councils should not take a blanket ‘computer says no' approach given town centres are very different to residential neighbourhoods. 

Retain powers for residents to raise concerns about poor conduct.  The Licensing Act allows residents or responsible authorities to initiate a “review” into any existing licensed premises, and these will be retained. 

Building on the success of the pavement licence, consider introducing a unified consent/licence for pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues. This would see licensing, planning, street trading, highways, food, gambling (for a fruit machine), and all other business regulatory regimes, rolled into a one-stop-shop licence to avoid regulatory overlap and make things simpler for businesses. 

We will protect our music venues. We will strengthen enforcement of the ‘agent of change' principle in the planning system that requires developers and hospitality operators to work hand in hand, for example ensuring that new homes built proximate to venues are properly soundproofed. We will also apply the ‘agent of change' principle to the enforcement of licensing, nuisance and environmental laws, so that when councils handle issues like resident complaints around issues like noise, they properly consider the established use of an area with pubs, bars and clubs. 

We will make it easier for people on a night out to find out where they can go in later hours. We will work with local government and the private sector to make licensing hours data openly accessible so that you can find out what's open late in your area, launching pilots with five local authorities by the end of 2025. 

Labour are failing London's nighttime economy: 

In London, over 3,000 pubs, bars and nightclubs have closed down since March 2020. Since March 2020, 3,011 pubs, bars and nightclubs have closed down in London (BBC News, 23 April 2024, link). 

Over a third of London's night-time cultural and leisure earn below the London Living Wage. 39 per cent of London's night-time cultural and leisure workers, which includes hospitality, private security, arts and entertainment, were paid below the then-London Living Wage of £11.95 an hour (GLA, Press Release, 8 December 2023, link). 

London has fallen to third place in the UK for its night-time economy. According to research by Square Up, 35 per cent of in-person payments in London were made between 7pm at 4am in the first half of 2023 – behind both Liverpool and Birmingham (Square Up, 7 September 2023, link). 

The CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said that night-time industry does not feel Amy Lame has been a strong voice for them.Speaking to The Times, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), Michael Kill, said that ‘the industry feels there hasn't been a strong enough voice for us… There is a big difference between signposting and virtue signalling and driving tangible change. We see a lot of announcements but not so many results' (The Times, 25 February 2024, link).   

Venues in London are closing at a faster rate than elsewhere in the country with 46 pubs closing in just six months under Sadiq Khan. ‘And separate research has suggested London has been hit worse than anywhere else in England for pub closures with 46 venues going in just six months, according to real estate analysts Altus Group last October' (The Daily Mail, 26 February 2024, link). 

London was ranked as the worst city in the UK for a night out. In a ranking of where is the best place for a night out, London placed bottom, receiving a score of just five out of ten (The Evening Standard, 20 April 2024, link). 

Labour are bad for businesses in the nighttime economy: 

Labour's French-style union laws will cost businesses £41 billion every year, equivalent to £1,250 per employee, making it more expensive to hire new workers and expand. Labour's French-style union laws will cost British businesses £41 billion in increased costs a year or £205 billion across five years, equivalent to £1,250 per employee, costing businesses like Tesco £375 million a year (The Daily Telegraph, 24 May 2024, link; The Sun, 24 May 2024, link). 

Labour would ban zero hours contracts, reducing labour flexibility for the 1.03 million workers employed on one. Labour have proposed a ban on zero hours contracts, reducing the flexibility of labour for the 1.03 million people employed on a zero hours contract (ONS, People in employment on zero hours contracts, 14 May 2024, link; The Labour Party, A New Deal for Working People, accessed 23 January 2024, link). 

Labour's business rates policy would ‘broaden the tax base', leaving bigger business to pay more as more businesses are dragged into the tax. In a discussion about business rates Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: ‘I think, that if you've got the system, right, over the long term, you're reducing the burden on some people because you're broadening the tax base, ideally, by bringing more people into it' (LBC, 29 November 2023, archived).