Stringfellows, the Covent Garden club that's been part of London's late-night scene since Peter Stringfellow opened it in 1980, has applied to Westminster City Council for a second London venue. It wants a Sexual Entertainment Venue licence and a premises licence for 8-9 Dover Street in Mayfair, a building that has stood empty for several years.

What's Actually Being Proposed

If it's approved, the new club could stay open until 6am seven nights a week, the same late hours as the original Covent Garden venue. Stringfellows' lawyers say the format actually helps here. An SEV runs under stricter, more discreet licensing conditions than a normal nightclub, and the company argues that makes it less disruptive for neighbours than a similar late-night bar or club licence would be.

The Objections

The application has met resistance from several sides. A Metropolitan Police objector raised concerns about policing an already stretched area at those hours. The Mayfair Neighbourhood Forum argued the area's evening economy has already grown enough to put pressure on residents in otherwise quiet streets, pointing to noise from more people on the street and amplified music from nearby venues. Individual residents have raised similar worries about how the neighbourhood's character would change.

The Wider Licensing Backdrop

The application comes in the middle of a bigger argument about how London's nightlife gets licensed at all. Under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, Westminster now has to consult City Hall on its licensing strategy, after new powers let the Mayor step into local licensing decisions. Westminster's own leadership disagrees that licensing rules are what's squeezing operators. It says rising costs and staffing problems are the bigger issue for the borough's nightlife businesses in general.

Where Things Stand

A council decision on the licence applications was expected within days of the application becoming public in early March. Central London's Sexual Entertainment Venue policy already covers a small, long-established group of licensed venues in Soho and the West End. How this application ends will show how much space the borough is willing to give a second cluster further west in Mayfair.

The Bottom Line

Approved or not, this application is a good snapshot of how contested nightlife licensing in London has become. There's an operator's business case, real worries about police capacity, and residents pushing back on a changing neighbourhood. All of it inside a licensing system that new devolution powers are reshaping this year.