It is a well-known fact that a pint tastes better if it is consumed while basking in the British sunshine, especially on a Bank Holiday. So why have we made it so difficult to do so?
Pubs, cafes, bars and restaurants up and down the country are being charged by their local authority for the simply putting a few tables and chairs outside for their customers to use. Councils call it a ‘pavement licence’. Business owners call it a ‘rip off’. But we should call it what it really is: a table tax.
At a time when hospitality businesses are grappling with rising costs – from increased business rates and national insurance contributions to spiralling energy bills – the need to apply and pay for a pavement licence, simply to stick a few tables and chairs outside, is ridiculous.
As usual, this is a policy born of the best of intentions, but has drifted into bureaucratic excess.
Before the Covid pandemic, the system for licensing tables and chairs on the pavement was slow and cumbersome. Fees were highly variable and there was a minimum 28 day consultation period.
During the pandemic, in an effort to stop our hospitality industry dying, the government passed the Business and Planning Act 2020. This streamlined the process, cutting approval times to 14 days and capping fees at £100 for a one-year licence.
The plan worked. Our hospitality venues were given a vital lifeline and so were people, who were provided a way of getting outside more. Outdoor dining flourished at an in extremis moment but, as we resumed to a new sort of normality, the enthusiasm for al fresco dining waned.
In 2023, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act made the system permanent, with a few important tweaks. Under the act, councils can now charge up to £500 for a new licence application and £350 for renewals, with approval times going back to 28 days. Under this system, licences last up to two years, but are often for much less time in reality.
The result is a patchwork of rules, paperwork, fees and frustrations that vary wildly depending on your postcode.
Businesses falling within Westminster City Council’s jurisdiction, for example, have to pay for a licence that lasts just three to six months. Watford Borough Council has introduced a tiered system that charges businesses based on how many chairs they put out, meaning a café owner has to think twice before daring to add a seventh seat outside, as their pavement licence would double in price. Manchester City Council’s complex conditions determine whether a licence lasts six, 12 or 24 months, with fees to match.
This is not sensible regulation. It is arbitrary, inconsistent and economically counterproductive.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Wandsworth Council is one of only a handful of councils that does not charge local businesses for a licence. Charging isn’t inevitable. But, even here, the accompanying paperwork remains an unnecessary burden.
Whatever the system, pavements must remain safe and accessible. Councils already have to let businesses know what that means, practically speaking, in order to approve or reject a pavement licence application.
Why can we not, therefore, flip the system on its head? The principle would be straightforward: if a business can provide outdoor seating without obstructing the pavement, in line with the rules councils already have, it should be free to do so.
To provide comfort to concerned councillors, businesses could still be required to let their council know that they are putting tables and chairs outside. This would not be about asking for permission, but rather providing the council with a way of checking the rules are being followed.
Ultimately, in the rush to do the right thing, the state’s instinct to regulate overshadowed the opportunity to liberalise. This is an instinct that is holding Britain back across the board.
The table tax reflects a mindset that sees public space as something to be tightly controlled, rather than shared and enjoyed. Small acts of enterprise should not be treated as risks to be managed. They are opportunities to be embraced.
The Government should put this right. By scrapping the table tax in favour of a simple, permissive system, it will send a clear signal that Britain backs its small businesses.
This is not just a pro-business argument. It is an environmental and communitarian one too because sitting outside is not just a lifestyle preference, it is an essential tool for turning streets into communities.
The more people spend time in their community, the more they will care about it and seek to improve it. What someone is looking at when they sit on that pavement – a congested road or mounting piles of rubbish – starts to matter more than when you are power walking past it. Over time, high streets can become more attractive destinations in and of themselves, rather than needing to travel further afield.
Scrapping the table tax is a small change but it can have major benefits for businesses, their customers and the communities they are part of. Labour should not sit on this opportunity to help our hospitality industry. Unless, of course, it plans to get a pavement licence first.
