The Soho Society ensures that the NIMBY debate rages on
At the end of May, the Soho Society, a community group established in 1972 to represent Soho residents and their interests, voted to oppose all new restaurant and bar licensing applications, including renewals of existing ones, in the area with opening hours beyond 11pm. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who’s long been vocal about improving the city’s nighttime economy, called the move “bad for London”, and has said he wants to use the powers granted to him by the government that will allow him to overturn blocked applications to “protect venues, extend London’s late-night offer and allow the capital’s nightlife to flourish.”
Westminster Council, which ultimately makes the decisions on awarding or denying licensing applications says that each one is judged on its own merits. The Soho Society, which has a formal consultative role to the council, states that its objections are based around the fact that infrastructure has not increased in line with the new growth in nightlife, citing concerns around crime, litter, and noise. There are real issues around safety; G-A-Y Late Jeremy Joseph said that customers and staff being attacked attending and leaving the bar, along with police understaffing, contributed to his decision to close the venue in 2023.
However, the close links between Westminster Council and the Soho Society (and reports as per the Guardian of some members feeling intimidated to voting in favour of this new mandate) reflects a pattern of a minority group having undue influence over decisions. Famously the Compton Arms had a review of its licence after four neighbours complained about noise in 2022, and Manchester’s Night & Day was caught up in a dispute for years after a couple who moved into a neighbouring flat made a noise complaint. These are just two examples of many.
As Sadiq Khan recently tweeted: “Complaining about nightlife when you *checks notes* choose to live in Soho is like living in South Kensington and complaining about the museums. Or moving to Hackney and grumbling about creatives. Living in Richmond and hating green space. It’s all getting a bit silly, isn’t it?” Sacha Lord, Chair of the Nighttime Industries Association, has similar feelings: “If you move next to a bar, expect noise. If you move next to a live music venue, expect noise. If you move next to a nightclub, expect noise. If you move next to a restaurant, expect noise. Don’t move into a busy, thriving area…then complain about noise. You’re the issue, not the businesses or customers.”
Soho has been an entertainment district for centuries. There’s been a sex industry in the area since the late 1700s, which peaked with a proliferation of sex shops, strip shows, and sex cinemas in the 70s. Venues like Club Eleven (where bebop jazz first emerged in Britain), the Marquee Club (where the likes of the Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin all played), and Ronnie Scott’s (which has hosted the biggest names in jazz and is still going strong) helped establish Soho as a hub for music. Carnaby Street was the epicentre of Swinging London and Old Compton Street has remained the heart of the city’s main gay village. Private members’ clubs like The Colony and the Groucho Club were notorious for their clientele and their antics. “Funny thing is maybe only 20-odd years ago, it wasn’t a desirable residential area. It was debauched,” says Fat Tony. “It was where you went to let off some steam, whether on the dancefloor, at the bar or… a number of other activities that I dare not mention here.”
The sanitisation of Soho has been a hot topic for years. Threads on Soho on the r/london Reddit page, ranging from a few months to three years ago, include “Why is Soho getting worse”, “Soho has lost its character”, “London has a Soho problem. We need to fix it now” and “Why do these people move to London areas like Soho then complain about the noise?” There’s no doubt that the neighbourhood is changing and rapidly. The red light district has been cleaned up. A mixture of redevelopment plans, licensing issues, and huge rent rises have contributed to the closure of venues like the Borderline, the Astoria, Madame JoJo’s, the Wag, G-A-Y Late and G-A-Y Bar. Announcing the closure of the latter, owner Jeremy Joseph said that “Old Compton Street has lost that LGBT identity”.
These factors, like restrictive licensing and rising operating costs, along with transport limitations and high living costs, is contributing to the doughnut effect, where the centre of the city is being hollowed out and the vibrancy and interest is being pushed to the fringes.
Not only does this damage the reputation of one of the world’s most famous districts, it’s harmful to the economy. If fewer venues are able to open, and existing operators are unable to extend their opening hours, that means fewer hospitality jobs, something that the country can ill afford in the face of rising youth unemployment.
Soho may be the battleground right now but this NIMBYism is an issue that’s London-wide. “Soho’s sanitisation is well underway. Up next is Hackney Wick, where they’re building 6,000 new homes – the restaurants, bars and clubs there will be feeling the pressure from new residents in no time” reads one comment under Sacha Lord’s post. And it’s not wrong.
