24 Hour London & London Night Czar

Good Practice

Equality, Health

24 Hour London & London Night Czar

Launched in 2016, the London Night Czar and 24-Hour London Team are tasked with ensuring the city thrives from 6.00pm to 6.00am and making London a fair, prosperous, inclusive and sustainable city around the clock.

Greater London Authority

United Kingdom

Metropolitan policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

The 24-Hour Team was set up to realize the Mayor’s vision for a 24-hour city. Its main objectives are to:

Promote culture and leisure for all ages and interests
Extend opening hours of and access to services
Ensure safety, diversity, and inclusivity for residents, visitors, and nighttime workers
Work closely with boroughs and police to create a balanced and sustainable evening and nighttime offer

CONTEXT

The Night Czar was appointed by the London Mayor in 2016, following a trend started in Amsterdam in 2014 but expanding its scope — she was tasked with not only tackling the crisis affecting nighttime venues, particularly LGTBQ+ spaces, but also overseeing everything that happens in London at night.

The concrete need was to improve evening and nighttime planning and holistically consider the wealth of activities happening after 6.00 p.m. as broadly as this has historically been done with activities during the day.

POLICY DESCRIPTION

Spanning more than 7 years, the Team’s work is too broad for a brief summary. The following are several key activities:

Commissioned and published an evidence base for a 24-Hour City, the first-ever collection of nighttime data.
Published guidance for, and offered support to, boroughs developing their own local Night Time Strategies.
Began developing a Night Test to roll out across the Greater London Authority and boroughs.
Made the London Plan the most night-friendly to date, including protections for existing venues.
Used advocacy and funding to make licensing more business-friendly.
Introduced the first Night Time Enterprise Zone fund to extend high-street opening hours, boost footfall and improve conditions for night workers.
Established and championed the Women’s Night Safety Charter.

KEY ASPECTS

The 24-Hour London Team’s innovative and holistic approach to the evening and nighttime considers everything happening between 6.00 pm and 6.00 am and ensures the city works for those who go out and visit and those who work.

Data gathering and analysis to understand what happens at night and stakeholder engagement to ensure everyone’s voice is heard provide the basis for implementation.

RESULTS

The GLA’s City Intelligence Unit conducts research and analysis to understand Londoners’ experiences at night as well as the prevalence, characteristics, and experience of nighttime workers.

Figures and data, as well as the Evidence Base for a 24-Hour City, can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-at-night–research-and-analysis

Policy's Website

Julieta

Cuneo

Policy Lead, 24-Hour London Team

night@london.gov.uk

Good Practice