Licensing

This can have serious consequences for people living above and nearby, as there will be loud conversation and laughter until at least 10 p.m., followed by the sound of tables and chairs being folded up and taken indoors. Visitors to our part of London sometimes forget that there are many people living in the vicinity who need to rise early the following day and work - Knightsbridge isn't just a party town. Furthermore, placing tables and chairs on busy pavements, adjacent to important thoroughfares such as the Brompton Road, can create obstacles for pedestrians, forcing them into the road and placing themselves at risk of being hit by motor vehicles. Consequently the KA pushes back strongly on applications to place tables and chairs on the pavement late into the evening in residential areas. We will also support individual residents and neighbouring residents' associations when they lodge objections.

This will have a big impact on High Streets – including Brompton Road and other parts of Knightsbridge - by allowing interchangeability between retail, restaurant, office and professional services uses without the need for new planning consents. As a result local authorities, residents and their associations will lose an important check on the setting up of new business, leaving the licensing process as the only mechanism for representations (including objections) to be made. The London Forum of Amenity Societies, of which we are part, supports the principles underlying the PWP but has expressed concerns that residents’ interests are being subordinated to those of developers. Without effective planning controls the quality of life of those living close to new businesses could be at serious risk.

For many years this was 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. at the latest, but more recently the time has crept forwards such that it is not unusual for many premises, especially those around Harrods and on the Brompton Road, to request a terminal hour of 11p.m., Midnight or even later. As with the issue of tables and chairs on the pavement these extended hours can have serious consequences for the quality of life of local residents. This is primary concern for the KA but at the same time we recognise the intense pressures that businesses have had to face during the two Lockdowns in 2020 and are likely to continue to face in the future, as no doubt it will take time for customer footfall to reach pre Covid-19 levels, even once a vaccine has become widely available.