I stand to defend vertical drinking. Is a pub that doesn’t allow it a real pub at all? | Simon Jenkins
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>The time-honoured tradition of standing up with a drink, gossiping and putting the world to rights is under threat. If councillors ban it, we’ll all lose out</p><p>It is unbelievable: unconscionable. Westminster Council is moving against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/06/westminster-council-wants-pubs-in-london-soho-west-end-ban-standing">“vertical drinking” in pubs</a>, starting with Soho. It claims drinking standing up is noisy and disruptive. It makes pubs, the council says, boisterous places where customers crowd round bars, get drunk and become pains in the neck in the street outside.</p><p>Westminster’s new draft licences would require pubs to be only for seating, to have “table service in place of open bar space”. Pub users should, presumably, sit down, shut up and wait to be served, like decent Westminster people who use wine bars.</p><p>Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/07/vertical-drinking-pubs-social-connections-soho-london">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
The time-honoured tradition of standing up with a drink, gossiping and putting the world to rights is under threat. If councillors ban it, we’ll all lose outIt is unbelievable: unconscionable. Westminster Council is moving against “vertical drinking” in pubs, starting with Soho. It claims drinking standing up is noisy and disruptive. It makes pubs, the council says, boisterous places where customers crowd round bars, get drunk and become pains in the neck in the street outside.Westminster’s new draft licences would require pubs to be only for seating, to have “table service in place of open bar space”. Pub users should, presumably, sit down, shut up and wait to be served, like decent Westminster people who use wine bars.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Curation & Context
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