Joy Lo Dico

THE writer and journalist Joy Lo Dico made a surprise appearance at Westminster City Council chamber on Wednesday night, promoting a group of “YIMBYs” in Soho.

A diarist and former executive editor at the Evening Standard, who lives in Soho where she used to run a private members club for professional women, asked councillors why the “West End Cumulative Impact Zone” remained operating in her part of W1.

The zone – which impose tougher rules on licence applications – has been abandoned in other areas including Covent Garden and Mayfair.

Speaking on behalf of a newly formed pro late-night licensing group Soho Says Yes, she said: “We are not asking for a free-for-all but asking that a small well-run premises in Soho is judged on its merits not refused by presumption.”

She asked for a commitment that a “defined exemption” could be made for small capacity premises looking to operate in the zone, and that Soho residents could have a seat on an expert panel informing decisions.

“The answers are yes and yes,” said cabinet chief Councillor Tim Barnes. “We need to remember that just because a venue is small doesn’t mean it is well run. I’d like to thank you for the balanced nature of the question given the shrill debate.”

There has been a big row in recent months about Westminster Council’s licensing policy in Soho. The Soho Society, which has traditionally sought to stop businesses opening late and al fresco dining and the rest of it, said earlier this year that it would object to any new licence application. And the continuance of the Cumulative Impact Zone in Soho has been part of those fiery debates.

The Soho Says Yes group meanwhile is saying “yes” to outside dining, yes to music and yes to “late”.

A letter from the group said: “We live in Soho. We love Soho. We chose this square mile, with streets with narrow footprints, crowded pavements, and evening openings, because of the life on them.

“Soho works because people are out in it. A record shop leaves its door open and some jazz drifts onto the street. Cafés and bars put chairs outside and the tables fill, the way they do across half of Europe. Shops are small and run by people you come to know. Music venues are world class. This is what makes Soho.

“But we are up against a culture of no, be it requests for outdoor tables, a later licence, a bit of music. A small number of people, well organised and rarely challenged, hold far more sway over what Soho should be than their numbers warrant, while many people who live on these streets are barely heard.”

The groups mission is to bring together residents in favour of a vibrant entertainment district.

“There are more of us than you think,” it adds. “You’ve heard of the NIMBYs. We are the YIMBYs: Yes to music. Yes to tables. Yes to late. Yes to the street as a place where things happen. Yes to a Soho that is lively and well run. It stays the heart of a social London because the people who live here are willing to defend the life in it.”