Nightlife “zones” planned for Central London due to noise complaints from residents

The Westminster City Council has announced plans for nightlife “zones” in Central London as a result of consistent noise and safety complaints from residents. 

The unprecedented-for-London Westminster After Dark Strategy is intended to protect key nightlife and cultural areas like Marylebone, West End, Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho, Leicester Square, and more while contending with the fact that the neighbourhoods house more than 211,000 residents.

The plan involves breaking down the time period of 6PM to 6AM into distinct phases based on the residential or nightlife business districts and implementing safety measures aimed at serving women and LGBTQ+ people going out, as well as night workers, such as installing an additional 100 CCTV cameras and tailored licenses. 

“The pandemic fundamentally reshaped the way people engage with the city after dark, accelerating changes in consumer habits, worker behaviour, and economic pressures”, the plan’s introduction said. “While Westminster remains a premier destination for evening and night-time activity, businesses have struggled with rising operational costs, changing footfall patterns, and staffing shortages, while residents continue to voice concerns over noise, anti-social behaviour, and the environmental impact of evening and night-time activities. Furthermore, safety concerns, notably including crime and violence against women and girls, highlight the need for coordinated interventions to ensure Westminster remains welcoming and secure for all.” 

The plan also includes proposals for “quiet nights”, “calm zones” in venues and “non-alchohol-led activities” in an effort to make nightlife more accessible and inclusive. 

Read the plan in full on the City of Westminster’s website. The consultation period closes on 22nd June. 

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, recently launched the city’s first-ever “Nightlife Taskforce” to consult on the “huge range of challenges” facing nightlife businesses since the pandemic. “The Taskforce cannot wave a magic wand to make things better,” fabric co-founder and taskforce chair Cameron Leslie said in a press statement,  speaking about the news, “but I truly believe through our experience, expertise, knowledge, relationships and desire we can put forward something meaningful by which all stakeholders and individuals who genuinely want to see London’s vibrant night-time economy thrive and grow can then get behind.”

A 2024 report by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said the UK was experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” as an average of two venues per week closed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.