UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls explains how the organisation is working with government to break the red tape ties that bind bars’ potential.

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I know that the mere mention of licensing conjures grayscale visions of council officials, pens in hand, filing through thousands of monotonous forms and paperwork – a far cry from the vibrant bars that rely on the system to operate and entertain.

As we know, licensing is essential for bars to serve alcohol and to ensure we have professional and responsible staff in charge of doing so. There’s the planning system too, which dictates what sort of ‘use’ a venue has and therefore what its operations will largely entail.

The two are interconnected. What your ‘use’ permits allow you to do is quite important. So, if you’re classed as a venue that provides food, then you have to be running a kitchen that does just that. Sounds simple. Except, it’s often not.

Back in the 1980s or 1990s, it was completely feasible that one business would always run a certain type of operation. A pub would serve pints. A restaurant would serve food. Easy. Well, in 2025, that’s just not the case. As costs increase, margins become tighter and consumers rightly demand more, there has naturally been a blending of the hospitality offering.

What might have historically been a pub that opened as such all day is now a café and brunch spot in the morning until mid-afternoon and then a bar in the evening until the early morning. There is certainly no one-size-fits-all approach in hospitality anymore, and it’s increasingly clear that our licensing and planning systems haven’t caught up with that.

Too many local authorities are stuck in their ways. It’s a system that has become too rigid for the modern business and it’s holding back bars from innovating, growing and bringing new concepts to our high streets, arguably at a time when we need them most.

Current system

Which brings me back to that Friday at Ronnie Scott’s in Soho. Licensing brought that group together, and it’s because there is a recognition within the government that the current system is not fit for purpose and needs to be brought into the 21st century.

There has been a gradual shift away from the original purpose of the Licensing Act, which was about delivering positive benefit, meeting consumer need, unlocking business and cutting red tape. That’s not to say the system is broken. There are many aspects of the current system that are essential to ensure we continue to deliver safe environments for our customers. 

However, there are tweaks that can and should be made to bring it back to the law’s original goals, and work better in conjunction with other local authority processes, such as planning. Over the past six weeks, UK Hospitality has been a central part of a licensing ‘sprint’, reporting into the chancellor and deputy prime minister, to rapidly come up with solutions that will reduce regulation and improve the system.

We’re nearing the end of the sprint now but I’m afraid to say I’m bound to secrecy about what is being put forward, so I will have to selfishly plug the next edition of my column in Class to divulge the details about what will be recommended.

Rest assured, UK Hospitality is pressing hard for tangible measures to improve the system so that bars are embraced and their potential harnessed, rather than unnecessarily hampered. Of course, cutting red tape is not a solution to the enormous costs facing hospitality businesses and reducing the sector’s cost burden remains a core priority of ours.

However, if we’re able to modernise and reduce the regulatory burden on businesses, that will ease some of the requirements on businesses and hopefully incentivise investment and growth in the sector. Because growth is what our bars have the potential to deliver. Not just economically, but socially too.

At UK Hospitality, we recently published a new Social Productivity Index, which revealed that hospitality is the most socially productive sector in the UK. Put simply, we deliver the most social impact in the country. 

It’s driving social mobility, as the leading employer of people without degrees. It’s supporting flexible work, as the leading employer of part-time workers. It’s providing employment for everyone, as a top-five employer for gender balance and ethnicity.

Changes to the licensing system may seem technical, but it’s a practical issue that I know affects bars on a day-to-day basis and prevents them from delivering at the level they want.

So, the next time I meet with the deputy prime minister, chancellor and mayor of London at Ronnie Scott’s, I hope it’s to confirm meaningful changes for bars that will cut red tape, reduce costs and unlock our potential.