Business group seeks more hours and outside space for eating and drinking

A Fitzrovia business advocacy group is seeking to increase the amount of space for outdoor eating and drinking on offer across the neighbourhood, despite the problem of noise nuisance for local residents and the obstruction of footways it often creates.

The Fitzrovia Partnership (TFP), which runs two business improvement districts (BIDs), is in talks with Camden and Westminster councils about “extended opening hours” and using public space for al fresco dining and boozing.

An email sent to business members in May, and seen by The Fitzrovia News, outlines the proposals which have been prompted by Mayor Sadiq Khan’s announcement in May of more public subsidy for the hospitality industry.

“The Mayor of London has announced a new £300,000 Summer Streets Fund to support outdoor dining and extended opening hours across the capital. The Fitzrovia Partnership is already in early discussions with Camden and Westminster to explore how this could be brought to life locally,” states TFP.

The initative is being led by TFP’s new factotum who is tasked with privatising more of the public realm.

“Our director of policy and place, Marcos Gold, is engaging with both boroughs to ensure Fitzrovia’s voice is represented.

“We’ve successfully delivered similar projects in the past on Charlotte Street, Cleveland Street and Warren Street and know the value they can bring to our members and the wider area,” said TFP.

Gold is a newcomer to TFP. He previously worked for other BIDs including the abandoned Hampstead BID.

Camden Council has made permanent a number of outdoor areas in the carriageway. But one streatery garnered so many complaints about noise and footway obstruction by customers that it was removed.

Westminster Council had rolled out a number of temporary outdoor areas in Fitzrovia and Soho but did not make them permanent due to complaints about noise nuisance from local residents.

Enthusiasm from businesses has been mixed with some not bothering to use the wooden-decked pens placed on the footway or carriageway, and others struggling to find space to unload daily deliveries.

Goodge Street has also been held up as a prime example of the problem of increasing clutter on the pavements.

Fitzrovia’s more upmarket restaurants prefer to serve their customers in more comfortable surroundings, indoors away from the greasy and urine-soaked pavements, piles of rubbish, and the sweet, sickly smell that drifts from the sewer vents.

The changeable British weather also means that al fresco dining can be a hit-and-miss experience. Too hot in July and August when customers prefer to sit inside in an air-conditioned dining room; or too cold and windy any other time, when waiting staff turn on outdoor electric and sometimes gas heaters to tempt the punters — something that undermines the green credentials that TFP is pushing.

TFP is, however, buoyed by the Mayor’s announcement and Camden Council’s enthusiasm for increasing the availability of alcohol. Westminster Council is currently pondering how it moves forward with its licensing policy.

Both councils currently have the last word on deciding alcohol licensing hours and allocation of public space for commercial use under pavement licences. However, the Mayor of London could overrule those decisions under new legislation being proposed.

On a warm Wednesday evening after several drinks, Fitzrovia’s sticky pavements might not look and smell so bad.

But those parts of the neighbourhood which have so far escaped the clutter and cacophony of more outdoor tables and chairs could have their relative calm disrupted by TFP’s ever encroaching eating and drinking quarters together with later opening hours.

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