As part of the planning application the famous pub chain said it will not allow drinking or eating outside
Wetherspoons has applied to open a new pub with a capacity for 320 people next to Charing Cross station. The popular chain wants to operate at 11 Strand between 7am and 11.30pm Monday to Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, according to an licensing application before Westminster City Council.
Wetherspoons has promised to shut at 10.30pm on Sunday and to provide door supervisors every night. It has also proposed to have bouncers on duty before 6pm for the first six weeks after opening and anytime after that based on risk assessments.
The site was formerly home to a retail unit and café. Objectors say the area already suffers from crime and anti-social behaviour and called for door supervisors to be on duty whenever the pub is operating.
They’ve also said the proposed smoking area – facing Charing Cross station entrance – must be moved. One objector wrote: “If that area is now blocked by smokers it will effectively half the width of access for those walking to the station (not wishing to walk on the road). For those arriving in London and exiting the station it is not right they should be immediately subjected to the sight and smell of those patrons smoking.”
Another called for an 11pm closing time fearing any later would lead to more noise and intoxicated customers in surrounding streets. They said residents have already made numerous reports to Westminster City Council about drunken shouting and singing late at night, damage to vehicles and private property, litter, and people urinating and defecating on private doorsteps which have come from other premises in the area.
They wrote: “These issues are documented and recurring, particular after midnight. An 11pm closing time is therefore both reasonable and proportionate to protect amenity and public order.”
A written statement by the chain said the venue will operate as a traditional JD Wetherspoon pub with no music or similar entertainment. They pointed out other Wetherspoon pubs subject to the same conditions in other busy areas like The Montagu Pyke on Charing Cross Road and The Moon Under Water on Leicester Square.
The premises will trade over two floors on the upper and lower ground floors and will have a capacity of 320, excluding staff. They said entry and exit will only be from the Charing Cross forecourt and there will be no consumption of food or drink, or the placing of tables and chairs, outside. Off-sales of food and drink will not be permitted.
They also said the location of the venue next to a major railway will help in the dispersal of customers at closing time. They wrote: “Careful consideration has been given to the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and the licensing objectives in putting together the operating schedule and pre-consultation has taken place with Ayesha Bolton at Westminster City Council and Steve Muldoon at the Metropolitan Police.
“Meetings have also been held with local residents, local businesses, local councillors… As a result of those meetings a Dispersal Policy, Event Day Management Plan and Football Supporters Match Day Management Plan which accompany this application form part of the conditions put forward.”
In June, Wetherspoon’s won an appeal at the Planning Inspectorate to run the site as a pub. The application, which requested the use of the upper and lower grounds floors as a pub with food, was refused by Westminster City council in April 2024.
A council report at the time said the type and size of the pub was “inappropriate to its location”. The council said the venue would add to an existing “over-concentration” of entertainment, food and drinking establishments and be a detriment to residents living in nearby Craven Street.
After reviewing the case, the Planning Inspectorate said there were no “material considerations” which should stop the site being used as a pub.
Westminster City Council will review the licensing application on Wednesday, December 3.
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