After closing a number of Central London streets to traffic and allowing bars and restaurants to use the space for al fresco tables last summer, Westminster Council is set to repeat the scheme this year. From April 12th, the earliest date that outdoor drinking and dining is allowed to resume under the lockdown rules, streets in Covent Garden, Soho and Marylebone will be closed, and streets in Chinatown, St James’s and Paddington will be widened to allow tables and chairs outside.
The extra space will make it easier for pubs, bars and restaurants to implement social distancing measures when they’re permitted to reopen. And this time the council is looking beyond the summer and exploring the “possibility of what a longer-term al fresco provision could look like.”