City Hall is due to start commenting on London licence applications this summer

City Hall is due to start receiving licensing applications from across London and making representations on them, under a pilot the Mayor's office announced on 29 June 2026, the day new licensing powers took effect.

The press release describes the pilot as a responsible authority test service, launching later in summer 2026.

A responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003 can comment on or object to licence applications before a council decides them. The release places City Hall alongside the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade in that role.

The powers came into force on 29 June 2026. The release states they flow from the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, and that this is the first time a UK mayor has held formal powers in the licensing process.

There are four. The Mayor can set a London-wide strategic licensing policy, make formal representations on licensing decisions, expect consultation when boroughs determine or revise their own licensing policies, and call in decisions he considers strategically important.

The record does not size the job. The press release gives no estimate of how many applications City Hall would receive in a year, no cost for the pilot and no staffing figure, and no borough licensing page reached for this story publishes application volumes.

The boroughs keep the decisions. Lambeth's licensing page states its statement of licensing policy runs from 30 January 2024 to 29 January 2029, and that the council publishes one every five years as the 2003 Act requires.

That page also shows how crowded the advice already is. It lists the bodies that guide Lambeth's licensing decisions as the council's licensing division, environmental health, planning, trading standards, children's services, police, public health, the fire authority and the Home Office.

The five-year cycle matters under the new arrangement, because the Mayor is now to be consulted when a borough determines or revises its policy.

The London Assembly has been over this ground. Its Economy, Culture and Skills Committee, which examines economic development, culture, skills, sport and tourism, published a report in February 2025 carrying 18 recommendations to the Mayor and Government on London's night-time economy.

The committee, chaired by Bassam Mahfouz, has now written to the Mayor about the pilot. The Assembly's publication page for the letter, dated 23 July 2026, states the committee identified "areas which will require further consideration to ensure the most effective use of the new powers"; the letter itself is published as a document that could not be consulted for this story.

Two things are due to follow. The release states the Mayor consulted on the London strategic licensing policy earlier in 2026, with the results to be reported later this year, and that the test service starts later in the summer.