Camden Council is asking residents to comment on controversial changes to its licensing policy which includes making it easier for businesses to sell alcohol and hot food for 30 minutes later at night, and promoting “sensible drinking” and the “health benefits” of alcohol.
The council’s Statement of Licensing Policy is a key document that “regulates and licences businesses that sell or supply alcohol and provide late-night entertainment or refreshments in the borough”.
Camden says it wants to “support local nightlife and ensure the safety of residents and visitors”. The new policy claims increased measures to “prevent crime and public nuisance”, “promote women’s safety and prevent drink spiking”, and a “revised enforcement and monitoring network” .
Similar proposals by Camden last year drew anger from residents groups across the borough. In a letter to the Camden New Journal a coalition of community groups wrote to say:
“Camden councillors are increasingly favouring commercial interests and later hours for alcohol consumption at the expense of the health and well-being of its resident population. This new licensing policy shows contempt for the residents of Camden and the communities we have built here.”
That criticism led to a revised draft licensing policy but community groups are still concerned about the extension of “Framework Hours” which would make it easier for venues to stay open 30 minutes later.
The change means that the terminal framework hour for the sale of alcohol to drink on the premises will be extended to midnight from Monday to Thursday, and half-past midnight on Friday and Saturday.
The 2024-2029 policy under consultation also includes a revised section on public health and alcohol harm in the borough.
“In April 2012 Public Health for Camden and Islington (‘Public Health’) became a responsible authority for licensing. One of public health’s key priorities is reducing the adverse impacts of alcohol on health and wellbeing in the borough,” it states.
Although “protecting and improving public health” is not a licensing objective under the Licensing Act 2003, alcohol related harm “is a particular concern in Camden” where it has a very negative impact on health inequalities and is “one of the key drivers of ill health and early deaths”.
Public Health will “promote sensible drinking messages” and “ensure that the links between the density of licensed premises, alcohol availability and indicators of health related harm inform licensing decisions,” states the new policy.
However, in the section on “Alcohol and Associated Health Risks” Camden’s policy continues to repeat incorrect information by claiming “in moderation, the consumption of alcohol can have health benefits” and that “mood can be enhanced”.
In 2023 the World Health Organisation helpfully published a document to clarify the harm alcohol causes: “No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health” because any potential benefits are outweighed by the cancer risk from even “light” to “moderate” drinking, it said.
Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance which causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer.
“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink — the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is — or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is,” says Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, regional advisor for alcohol at WHO Europe.
Camden Council — by continuing to make erroneous and misleading statements in its licensing policy — is clearly favouring the commercial interests of the alcohol industry at the expense of the health and well-being of its resident population.
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