A Wetherspoon pub called the Sorting Office has been licensed for up to 451 people in Paddington Square's Ticket Hall. It can serve alcohol from 8am.

A new Wetherspoon pub called the Sorting Office has been given a licence at Paddington Square, the development beside Paddington station. It will sit in the basement area known as the Ticket Hall, by the new entrance to the Bakerloo line.

Westminster City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee granted the licence on 29 October, after the company agreed shorter hours with two residents’ groups the day before the hearing.

What was approved

The pub will take three empty shop units, with seating on the ground floor and a mezzanine. Planning permission for pub and restaurant use was granted on 10 June 2026, according to the committee papers.

The hours granted are:

Sunday to Wednesday Thursday to Saturday
Open to the public 6.30am to midnight 6.30am to 12.30am
Alcohol sales 8am to 11.30pm 8am to midnight

Late-night food is licensed from 11pm to 11.30pm, or to midnight from Thursday to Saturday. The pub will serve a full menu from 11.30am to 11pm and breakfast until noon.

The committee capped the number of people inside at 451, pending a final figure from the council’s environmental health team. No alcohol can be sold until that team has signed off the finished premises.

Hours cut after residents objected

J D Wetherspoon first applied to sell alcohol until 12.30am and stay open until 1am on Thursday to Saturday nights.

The South East Bayswater Residents’ Association and the Hyde Park Estate Association both objected. Each said it welcomed Wetherspoon to Paddington, but the hours were “far too excessive”, in SEBRA’s words. They argued that trains thin out after 11pm and that the pub could become a late-night destination for people leaving other bars.

The two groups and the company settled on the hours above. The final licence also includes:

  • no takeaway alcohol after 11pm
  • no drinking in any outside area after 11pm
  • door staff based on a risk assessment, and a duty manager wearing a body camera
  • a dispersal plan and separate plans for event days and football match days

The Metropolitan Police did not object. The council’s environmental health team withdrew its objection after conditions were agreed.

At the hearing, the company’s lawyer said only 2% of alcohol sales at its Victoria pub take place between 8am and 10am.

What it means for you

No opening date has been announced. The licence takes effect straight away, but the pub cannot sell alcohol until the fit-out is signed off.

It will be Wetherspoon’s second pub around Paddington Basin. Both residents’ groups noted in their objections that the company opened a pub in nearby Merchant Square last year.