Could new powers for the Mayor of London transform London’s nightlife?

0:04Hi, I'm Julie Banks and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, don't forget to hit follow and give us a rating. Coming up, as we edge closer to the much-anticipated season finale of one of the most popular TV series in recent years, The Standard's culture writer, Vicky Jessup, is here with her thoughts on what to expect. It's a White Lotus tradition at this point, almost three seasons in, that they show us a dead body at the start of the season and then don't actually tell us who it is until the very end. so the very end is almost upon us.

0:45But first, should London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan have the final say on whether pubs and clubs can stay open late into the night? And if so, could it help transform the city's night-time economy? The Standards Transport and City Hall editor, Ross Lydell, is here to update us on the latest proposals. So Ross, what are the new powers which the mayor could be granted? So the government has announced that it is looking to set up a pilot scheme that would essentially give Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, powers over what it sort of describes as licensing applications of sort of strategic importance. Now, as it stands, the details are rather thin on the ground, but the system could be akin to that that already exists for major planning applications where all the planning applications that go to local councils, you know, the 33 boroughs in London, some of the bigger ones make their way to Sadiq at City Hall and he can choose to intervene or choose not to intervene.

1:47And typically this would be on planning developments where there's 150 houses or more, or whether we're talking about a tall building of about 30 metres or higher. So in terms of licensing, the suggestion is that this would be in key areas. So we can imagine and really the West End, and also talking about Alfresco dining as well, so it could be key locations. We know, for example, that Sadiq is very keen, as part of his plans, to pedestrianise part of Oxford Street to essentially go down a similar style to the likes of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. So you can imagine outdoor eating and sort of food stalls there along the western part of Oxford Street.

2:28Obviously, that's a little bit further down, but as it stands just now, It would be the case, for example, if a major bar or restaurant possibly seen the likes of Leicester Square or around Covent Garden asked Westminster Council for permission to extend their hours or to put more tables out in the piazza and the council decided, no, this wasn't a good idea. then Sadiq essentially would operate as a sort of court of appeal to decide whether it would be in London's wider interests and the wider interests of the entertainment industry and the tourist industry for this pub, bar, restaurant, club or whatever to be given the extra hours or tables or facilities that it desires.

3:07Why does the government feel it's necessary to kind of hand these powers over to Sadiq? This is part of the government's wider agenda for growth, which has obviously seen controversial decisions already recently on expanding Luton Airport and which has given the indication that Heathrow Airport could expand. So it's essentially they're talking about being on the side of builders, not blockers. The government believes that bureaucratic red tape and the concerns of a few residents in licensing cases has led to pubs not being able to open beyond 11pm, for example. Pubs that might want to go through to midnight or 1am.

3:48And really what it's trying to do is to, in its own words, back the good old fashioned British night out, believing that if we all go out, have a few beers and a bite to eat, then the economy will grow from that. And so what's been the reaction so far from the hospitality industry? Very positive, really. A number of big operators are sitting on a government task force. Their challenge is to come back within the next six weeks with more detailed proposals. the idea is that if this works in London then it could be rolled out to mayors elsewhere in the country but by and large the licensing industry said that the rules that were brought in back in 2003 when the licensing act came into force that essentially these rules were too stringent and caused unnecessary complications as they tried to open for longer for example on special events whether it's sort of special bank holidays or say England are doing well in the World Cup and so on that they have to sort of jump through hoops before they can then serve the demand that's obviously there for a nice night out in the pub to celebrate or to sort of watch participative sport.

4:59The history to this is that it was back in 2003 that councils gained the power to decide on licensing applications. Previously, pub landlords would have to go to the magistrate's court to ask for their license to be approved, often on a yearly basis, and also to ask for extensions to the licence. The reason it was given to councils was to try and ensure essentially that residents had a greater say so that if you lived in an area such as Soho or Fitzrovia or you know north of Tottenham Court Road down around Mayfair and so on that essentially the council had the duty to balance the needs and desires of the entertainment industry with the needs and concerns of residents and now this seems to be sort of tweaking the balance again in favour of the entertainment industry away from those who live around and in the West End.

5:48So what does that mean for the local councils themselves then? Could this become a cause of conflict between them and the mayor? I think that is entirely likely and it would be the latest flashpoint between in particular Westminster Council and City Hall and the Greater London Authority of which Sadiq Khan is the figurehead. Now there's a bit of history here in that for many years Westminster Council was run by the Tories. It's currently under Labour control, but that is hanging by a thread because Labour currently only has a majority of two on the council. There are council elections due next May.

6:23The council, even the Labour Council and Sadiq have already fallen out over Oxford Street, which he obviously, as we're saying, wants to park pedestrianise. The council says it approves the vast majority of licensing applications already. It says it only blocks those where that are concerns from the police or concerns about antisocial behaviour. The reality is that many thousands of licensing applications are made each year and in the West End there are already more than 2 ,000 licensed venues that have permission to remain open beyond midnight, some up until 6am. The reality is that many choose not to exercise the full rights that they have under their licence simply because there aren't enough punters.

7:06since the end of the pandemic. The number of people going out and about in London late at night has not recovered to sort of pre-2019 levels. So there's no point or there's no need for many pubs and bars to stay open late if there's nobody there to actually keep the tills ringing. And that's the other issue there. But this is all the hallmarks of another battle between the council, which essentially is full of 54 councils representing residents and the mayor who seems to want to believe, like the government, that getting more people knocking back a few pints and having a pizza or two at night will boost the British economy.

7:43So Ross, a story like this seems to make for a good headline, but what's the reality in terms of the numbers of cases that we think this might apply to? I think this could be quite few cases, quite a small number, where the mayor essentially gets to act as judge and jury. Most licensing applications are relatively non-controversial, especially pubs and bars wanting to stay open until 11 o 'clock at night. There's really not much of an issue there. It's hard to think of any recent examples beyond one or two where there have been issues of sexual assault or drug taking where the mayor would look to intervene and decide something different to the council.

8:23So I think it may be the case here that this is quite a tasty little soundbite for the government to be seen to be doing something again. But when you drill down into the reality, how often will Sadiq actually be essentially saying, yes, guys, you can be open all hours, when the council has said the opposite? Sadiq's own record on nightlife is far from perfect. You know, he had a night czar called Amy Lame, who resigned last year after getting frequent criticism of doing not enough to support the nighttime industry. So Sadiq is being positioned as the knight in shining armour here, where his own record on supporting London's nightlife is not without blemish.

9:11Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, we look ahead to the season finale of The White Lotus and what the future holds for the HBO series. We'll see you back here in just a moment.

9:35Welcome back. The HBO TV series The White Lotus first came to our screens in 2021. Based at a fictional luxury resort chain, the dark social satire has gone on to earn numerous nominations and awards. And with the finale of season three due to air on Monday, theories are hotting up about how the storylines will resolve. Here to share her thoughts on what the audience can look forward to is the Standard's culture writer Vicky Jessup. And just to warn you, this part of our conversation does include spoilers. Vicky, before we talk about the season finale, how has Series 3 been received overall? So I think it's probably fair to say the reaction has been a bit more muted than it has been for the last two seasons.

10:21I think season one, the key to its massive success, you know, aired in lockdown. It was kind of the ultimate escapism viewing. Plus, you know, getting to see rich people squirm is always quite fun. Season two, we saw the return of Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya. So I think her appearance really powered things in the second season, as well as her, you know, very dramatic death. Season three, I think people have been saying it's a bit more of a slow burner, especially at the start. I think it's a bit longer than previous seasons and there's not been maybe the explosive action we might expect from the White Lotus but I think those criticisms have kind of been dying away as the season has progressed I think especially stuff like the incest storyline between the two brothers I think since that's happened in the past like two to three weeks the internet has really gone into overdrive and I think hype now ahead of the finale is probably as high as it's ever been.

11:11You mentioned Jennifer Coolidge there who was clearly sort of the star of the show for seasons one and two. Has season three sort of lacked the presence of a character like her, do you think? Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's hard not to love Tanya. She's so camp and so mean and so self-involved that her presence kind of really did turbocharge the show because I guess she was the epitome of kind of everything we love to hate about rich people, essentially. So her absence here, it is felt. I think the show does nod to it by including instead the returning characters of Belinda, who was the masseuse that she kind of formed a very one-sided friendship with, promised her a lot of money to invest in her masseuse business, then dramatically dropped her.

11:52And then also Greg, who was her husband that she met in season one, who ended up essentially killing her for her money in season two. So there is a kind of through line there. And I think the mystery of what happened to Tanya that Belinda is slowly unraveling is one of the kind of main through lines of season three. But yes, we are missing some of the fabulous energy of Tanya. I think none of the other characters really come close to her. So a spoiler alert for those who may not be quite up to date with series three, but what are fans hoping that the final episode will kind of wrap up for them on Monday?

12:26I mean, first of all, who dies? You know, it's a White Lotus tradition at this point, almost three seasons in that they show us a dead body at the start of the season and then don't actually tell us who it is until the very end. So the very end is almost upon us. And yeah, hopefully we'll get to find out who that is. You know, at the start of season three, it opens very dramatically. There's a shooting at the hotel. We hear lots of gunshots. And then Belinda's son, who's the only person we know is not dead. You know, he sees a body float past him. So yes, that is the big question. I think also there are a couple of kind of unresolved plot lines.

12:59For instance, the Russians that the three American women befriend looks like they're responsible for the kind of smash and grab at the White Lotus that happened during the second episode that was revealed to us at the end of the last episode when Laurie slept with one of them and you know had to dramatically hide in the cupboard as that Russian's angry girlfriend came around to visit so the fallout from that hasn't yet been resolved plus there's all the drama that's going on with the Ratliff family which might probably like play into the who dies question but um the family patriarch Tim his business is going under his sons have drunkenly committed sex acts on each other, let's say.

13:36And he's having very vivid fantasies about shooting his family to spare them from the misery of being poor. So yeah, there's all of that. And then of course, the resolution of the Belinda and Greg storyline. You know, Greg has offered Belinda a lot of money to basically keep shtum about any suspicion she might have around Tanya's death. Belinda doesn't want to take the money. And so it's not too far fetched to assume that Greg, having already, you know, essentially killed Tanya, will want to do something about Belinda as well. So yeah, it's all to play for. Great. And is there any word on the future of the show?

14:06Could we be expecting to see a fourth series, do you think? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You know, it's already been greenlit. It's such a massive hit. It's hard to see how HBO would want to milk every drop of excitement and hype out of the show. About the fourth season, there's been a lot of speculation about where I suppose that is the big question at the moment. You know, where are they going to film next? What Four Seasons Hotel will Mike White be visiting next in his quest to do seasons in all of the Four Seasons hotels around the world. We've heard conflicting things about this. Everything from Europe, apparently they've been scouting destinations there.

14:37We've been told that Mike White doesn't like the cold, so we can assume it might be a hot or tropical location. But yes, it's all still very much up in the air at the moment, but I think the showrunners like keeping us on our toes. Great. Well, thanks very much for the update on that and we'll look forward to seeing how it all unfolds. Thanks very much. and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk and please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk this podcast will return on monday so until then have a wonderful weekend

15:24Thank you.