The Flawed Home Office Licensing Reforms Programme:

This email and the attachments below are from the Residents' Association for Sheffield City Centre, ChangingSheff. They were sent under the heading 'The Flawed Home Office Licensing Reforms Programme' to relevant MPs, Councillors and news outlets in January 2026.........

Dear XYZ - Our name derives from the reason for our existence, which is to change the rapidly re-developing city centre of Sheffield into a great place to live for the 35,000 residents who will eventually be accommodated here.

Our analysis covers the Home Office Licensing Reforms Programme - Call for Evidence – online at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68e7a2981c8b2a3b506907ac/Licensing_Reforms_-_Call_for_Evidence.pdf 

We disagree fundamentally with the licensing concept contained in this Home Office 'Call for  Evidence' circulated in October 2025. It refers to 'Cutting Red Tape' and we consider the concept to be completely flawed for the following reasons:

1.     By focusing on 'cutting red tape', the Review appears to be making the case for relaxing the current Licensing Regulations, which are already extremely weak and lead to anti-social problems in many urban areas around the UK.

2.     Town and City Centres are currently going through a Renaissance by being re-populated to overcome their decline caused by the huge increase in online shopping and out-of-town retail centres. We are strongly in favour of this re-population strategy, having well over 100 years of collective city centre living by our committee members.

3.     However, this vast experience has taught us that the weak licensing laws are not encouraging people to move into urban centres in a way that will create mixed communities. Police reports on anti-social behaviour, often caused by excessive alcohol consumption, make our point - Licensing Laws need a completely different approach, not 'less red tape'.

4.     The current Licensing Conditions (below) are so weak that almost anyone can obtain a licence to sell alcohol. Currently the trend in Sheffield is for vape shops to apply for licences to sell alcohol.

a.     The result of this is to create so much competition for the established pubs and clubs that it is extremely difficult to make a profit.

b.     These are key hospitality businesses that we want to succeed to create the right city centre ambiance for the new residents moving in.

c.     We don't want licensed vape shops and myriad off-licences that seriously undercut the profits of this key hospitality sector.

5.     What is needed is - in order to improve the profitability of the established hospitality sector - a limit on the amount of unnecessary and irrelevant competition. The spin-off benefit of this is more revenue to offer higher management standards, rather than an interminable race to the bottom by cutting costs to compete with cheap alcohol from low-cost outlets.

6.     Pubs that are surrounded by licensed vape shops and cheap off-licenses will struggle to generate enough trade to offer the social meeting places that a city centre requires.

7.     The vehicle to achieve this is already available, in a 'Cumulative Impact Policy' (CIP) - but the requirements for creating one are too onerous. And the current four Licencing Regulations certainly need changing as they are not fit for purpose.

8.     The essential aspect of any changes should be to make Cumulative Impact Policies much less challenging to introduce. It is not a difficult task to show that the amount of alcohol available in an urban area is sufficient. In two parallel Sheffield streets there are forty non-restaurant outlets selling alcohol. Not surprising that making a profit is difficult and the amount of anti-social behaviour discourages new residents from moving into the area.

As the residents' association for Sheffield city centre, we believe;

·       The Home Office plans are misguided,

·       The ‘Call for Evidence’ fails to recognise the important changes in urban area repopulation and

·       Nothing seems to be proposed to prevent cheaper outlets ruining the profitability of the established hospitality industry.

Contact us if you have any questions or comments.

Peter Sephton, Chair,

David Hussey-Yeo, Secretary

ChangingSheff – the residents association for 27,000 people living in Sheffield City Centre

www.ChangingSheff.org

e: Hello@ChangingSheff.org

 The existing Four Licensing Objectives:

·       The Prevention of Crime and Disorder:

·       Public Safety:

·       The Prevention of Public Nuisance:

·       The Protection of Children from Harm:

These are virtually useless when a vape shop applies for an alcohol license. But with a Cumulative Impact Policy in place, where there are already other alcohol outlets in the vicinity, opposing it is a straightforward matter.

The attachments are:

a)     A Press Release summary of our objections and proposal – the easier availability of Cumulative Impact Policies.

b)     HMG’s open call for evidence – Reforming the licensing system - A more detailed analysis of the biased Home Office report, which appears to have been drafted by the alcohol industry. Mistakenly attempting to reduce the current weak regulations by ‘Reducing Red Tape’ - instead of urging improvements that stop inappropriate retailers from undermining established hospitality outlets - is the wrong approach where urban re-population is taking place.

Also See: ‘How has your local high street changed since 2019? Check your postcode’ https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/jan/28/how-has-your-local-high-street-changed-since-2019-check-your-postcode

 DOWNLOAD our Summary and Full Report below, explaining the reasons for our opposition to these Home Office proposals