London is not a 24-hour city – and Khan needs to change that

Sadiq Khan managed to unite people of all political persuasions last week, but not in a way that he might have hoped for. 

Khan came out to defend London’s under fire ‘Night Czar’ Amy Lame, who has been criticised for her international jet-setting and taking home a whopping £117,000 salary at a time when London’s late night industries have been suffering. 

“London is leading the world in its 24-hour policy with other global cities looking to us for inspiration,” Khan said as he leapt to her defence last week.

The idea that other international cities look to us really is laughable to anyone who has travelled outside the UK. 

Londoners know that getting a pint after 10pm on a Monday or Tuesday evening is almost impossible in zones one and two. The early call of last orders in the City’s watering holes is an annoyance that unites Londoners perhaps just as much as the more serious threat of the soaring cost of renting in the capital. 

Meanwhile, there’s not a chef or bar owner in the City who doesn’t think most London councils’ planning and licensing rules are hurting the sector.  

Nothing encapsulates London not being a 24-hour city more than Greggs’ battle with Westminster City Council to get a late night food licence for its flagship Leicester Square store, which Greggs lost last year. Truly embarrassing stuff for a global city. 

Lame has robustly defended her role in a recent op-ed, and both Lame and Khan recently tried to trumpet the success of the trial Night Time Enterprise Zones in a handful of boroughs. It’s a good but small initiative, and pales in comparison to the scale of the problems facing London’s night time economy. 

As the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association said recently: “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 cost of living crisis, rising rents, increased business rates and staff shortages – all of which Lame, in fairness, doesn’t have a huge amount of control over – have battered the sector. 

From Printworks to Werkhaus; clubs and pubs have been forced to shutter at an alarming rate under these pressures. 

Heading into the mayoral election in May, Khan must pledge to do more to support our night time industries, making sure they thrive rather than survive.