West End bars and restaurants given alfresco winter boost with outdoor heater go-ahead

Westminster council has paved the way for an unprecedented alfresco winter in the West End by allowing electric heaters and umbrellas to be installed at any existing outdoor space for dining or drinking.

The Tory-run authority said its policy over the coming months would be a “presumption in favour of requests to use safe, low-carbon electric heaters and appropriate umbrellas for outdoor tables and chairs”. However, gas heaters will banned on environmental grounds and businesses securing permission to install electric versions will have to make “an appropriate donation” to offset carbon emissions.

The move comes just a fortnight before the end of a popular programme of road closures in Soho and Covent Garden that has permitted restaurants and bars to put tables in the streets for the first time.

Council leader Rachael Robathan said: “We want to help our wonderful restaurants, bars, pubs and cafés to provide a safe and enjoyable service. We realise that as the weather turns colder, heaters and umbrella may help businesses to operate successfully whilst ensuring that they remain fully compliant with the latest public health advice.”

The council, which spent £2 million on the summer alfresco dining measures, said it also wanted to hear from local communities and businesses about potential new “winter appropriate” schemes that could involve parking suspensions, widened pavements and barriers in some streets. However, it said the businesses that benefited would be required to make a financial contribution.

Even before today’s announcement operators were spending millions of pounds more than last year on heaters, umbrellas, blankets and even branded jackets to persuade customers to use tables outside even in the dead of ­winter. They hope the move will allow them to increase capacity at a time when social distancing has limited the number of tables they can offer indoors, as well as provide a more reassuring environment for nervous customers who still do not feel comfortable indoors.

Stephen Levy, managing director of Heat Outdoors, Britain’s biggest supplier of outdoor heaters, said demand had exploded since 1 September when the Eat Out to Help scheme came to an end and restaurants were facing a potentially bleak autumn with limited help from the Government.