No 10 has vowed to confiscate powers from local councils which try to restrict customers from standing up while drinking in pubs or ordering at the bar. The draft document, now out for consultation, recommends that pubs applying for new licences allow only table service rather than bar ordering. It also suggests new pubs in popular nightlife areas including Soho call last orders at 10pm, to reduce noise and disturbance. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Busy pubs full of people talking to each other is not a public nuisance, it is British life, and it is thousands of jobs. “The government is devolving new licensing powers to the mayor [of London] to help support pubs and nightlife.