22/03/2024
Nightclubs Are Closing: Why Are They No Longer Busy?
A breakdown of the factors causing nightclubs to gradually turn into trampoline parks, vodka bars, crap Italians, and escape rooms.
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IT’S DEAD IN HERE AGAIN TONIGHT!
There has been lots of chat, rumours, and utter chaos recently about nightclubs closing, and the sweeping changes across the landscape of the late-night economy. 31 nightclubs in the UK closed in 2023 according to research by the Night Time Industries Association, and 2024 has seen a promising start for those who want to get an early night. In my hometown of Basildon, there used to be around eight 500-plus capacity venues at the turn of the century. Unit 7 closed last week in one of the buildings I used to play at in the late 90s and early 00s. That's the last one gone now; there is one pub in the heart of the town centre where there used to be plenty of places to go out in the evening.
It makes me realise how good times were back then and how much fun we had! Those were the days when banks sent you unsigned credit cards to use, wages were good, and prices were cheap. You could have the spare change to go out a few nights a week and still afford to live. I'd be up London raving as often as I could, and just around the millennium, work was available every night of the week to me as a DJ – and it was well paid. Things aren't the same in the late-night economy, and it is harder than ever for businesses to turn a decent profit.
So, what has changed? Where did it go wrong? I'll tell you from my point of view being an industry practitioner of 26 years. People are quick to blame one or two things, but, there are multi-faceted reasons which have slowly undone the weekly nightclub scene. Here they are in chronological order:
THE MILLENNIUM - 2000
Clubbing was at its peak; the super-clubs were coining it, and the DJs were becoming big celebrities commanding extortionate fees. Everyone got overly greedy and indulged in the indignity of doubled, tripled, and quadrupled door charges for the Millennium. People reacted with their wallets and refused to pay £40 instead of £10 to get in. Many clubs that night were running at half of their normal capacity. I remember walking around trying to give away tickets just to make up numbers so the club would look full as we struck midnight. For many clubs, it was a disaster which left them red-faced from greed. It was a turning point in culture for the advent of house parties and people saying a firm NO to overpriced clubs and taxis running meters which went around like the cherries and oranges of one-armed bandits.
24 HOUR DRINKING - 2005
The Labour Government had an idea to change the landscape of socialising. Instead of boozy Britain, they wanted a more European café-style culture with places having fewer brawls and more sophistication. Whoever came up with that idea clearly hadn’t been to Wigan on a Saturday night.
The Idea was to extend drinking hours. In big cities, this worked well, as instead of 20,000 people all being booted out into the city at 2 am, bars and clubs stayed open later and closing times staggered. This was great for the sub-economies such as taxis, takeaways, and drug dealers, and the Police could keep up with a gradual stream of hoo-ha instead of it all booting off at 2 am.
Nightclubs took a hit with this, as suddenly, the bars which closed at 11 pm could stay open as late as the clubs. They had DJs and dance floors, and most importantly to punters, they were free admission. Why would ravers be paying eight quid into a club when they had everything, they needed at All Bar One or Revolution?
THE SMOKING BAN - 2007
It seems so long ago that people would be in densely populated venues under the influence of booze and drugs with burning embers in their hands whilst dancing energetically. All this came to a stop on 1st July 2007, when it became more socially acceptable to have a line in a toilet than a ciggy on a dance floor. We also quickly learnt how terrible people were at personal hygiene! Toilet attendants came into their own, along with scented air conditioning.
Many venues simply couldn't build a smoking area due to building limitations, such as being next to a road or inside a precinct. For some, the cost of putting a smoking area on the roof was not within budget, and they had to close instantly. Others closed within months as the noise pollution in local housing estates resulted in complaints and eventual closures. There were also fewer opportunities to start new clubs due to limitations. This made potential new venues never happen due to the risk of financial failure if it was anywhere near a block of flats or a housing estate.
THE BANKING COLLAPSE - 2008
The credit crunch hit us all hard as banks had to get their affairs together instead of doling out unlimited credit willy-nilly. A cheeky night out on the credit card and loans being forced down the throats of young people stopped overnight, along with extensions to overdrafts. This had a direct result of people having less to spend. Many industries, such as construction, ground to a halt, as well as hitting disposable income.
VAT changed twice within a matter of years, resulting in menu reprints, till changes, and many other costs which hit clubs hard. The media reporting of the crash also made people very aware of what they were spending. This affected admissions and spending per head.
I remember many operators putting back refurbs, cancelling new venues, having internal re-structures, and ditching venues which weren't making money. In short: yet more closures and even fewer openings; plus, the quality of venues on the inside deteriorated. As people had less money, pre-loading became more common with people getting smashed at home or in pubs where it was cheaper, then turning up to clubs later. Doors went from 9-3 to 11-4 overnight as the first few hours weren’t worth paying the club staff wages.
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY - 2010
Dubstep was the last new music genre to be invented. Before this, we had new music genres from disco to house, hip hop to jungle, techno through to drum n bass. This went hand in hand with new technology. After dubstep, there weren't any advances in new technology or creative ideas which pushed music forward with a new genre. We entered a post-modern era in music where we started to look back at the past and rediscover what we had already created. Streaming helped this, as suddenly music was omnipresent and cheaper than ever.
Punters no longer needed to come to clubs to get the latest tunes, and the latest promos were just reinterpreted versions of what we already knew. Illegal downloads and then streaming put the music industry into intensive care – but it didn't kill it. Labels, as always, took some time to get their heads around this. They also slashed spending, meaning club packages of pop records and remixes were much rarer than in the 90s and 00s.
Meanwhile, artists needed to make money due to their lack of physical sales. They got back on the road and the live music scene went through the roof. As it did, the technology of stage shows got better: better audio; better visuals; and better fx – creating the modern immersive experiences we know and love today. This created event-based raving as it followed suit, and people started saving up and going out a few times a year to raves, festivals, and gigs instead of weekly events.
TUITION FEES - 2012
The 90s expanse of Higher Education meant business was booming for pubs and clubs, as UK students socialise with drinking culture. We went from around 10% of the population going to university in the late 80s to 50% of the population. The student pound was a big part of the takings of any nightclub which had a university within taxi distance. I'll be honest here: I'm personally responsible for not just many missed days of work and hangovers, but I'm also responsible, along with the rest of the late-night industry, for many failed degrees, and a barrage of missed and hung-over lectures. Student nights were big and busy business – but then things changed. Busy student nights dwindled, and clubs solely reliant on the student pound gradually closed.
Why is this? One word: fees! 2012 saw the introduction of fees for everyone. This made students make more sensible life choices than before and throughout their time at uni, as suddenly, they or their parents were footing a big bill. The average cost of going to university rolls in at around 27 grand in the UK, and that's without student loans. Add on an MA and loans and you aren't getting much change from 70 grand.
To put it simply: if you are paying for something instead of it being free or much cheaper, then you are darn well much more likely to get your money's worth. You are also much more likely to pick a more sensible degree, which will set you up for life, instead of a degree in Yacht Management or Bagpiping – yes, these degrees exist! Whilst this is great for the education of the nation and the economy, it has had a detrimental effect on student nights. Instead of weekly attendance, your average student will attend just a few times a year around freshers and the end of term as their results matter.
It’s also worth pointing out here that student rent prices have significantly gone up by around 8% for 2023/4. Yet loans for living costs have gone up by just 2.8%. It doesn’t take someone studying fiscal studies to work out which economy is going to get hit first. Another point worth noting is that in post-Covid and post-Brexit recession, student numbers are falling and are many universities are struggling financially. There are less people and less money.
ONLINE DATING - 2012 ONWARDS
The monoculture of the 90s where people went out for a s**g, a fight and a kebab has changed. The weekly nightclub was a breeding ground for people to meet, frolic and fornicate, or find their new life partners, all under one roof. If you wanted to avoid slinging one up a sock all your life, then there were only a few ways you could do it: pubs, clubs, dinner parties, or lonely-hearts columns in the local rag. Singles nights, 80s nights, over-25s nights, and gay nights helped people find their tribe in the local club scene.
Things changed with the advent of the Internet, and we could start dating without the need to go out on the pull. This was great for those who didn’t drink, found it hard to socialise, or didn’t enjoy the intensity of a club. Instead of the average towny nightclubs being predominantly a meet-market for the lonely and h***y, we can see a shift into it being the Taylor Swift eyelash selfie bridge in one part of town, and the ravers with trainers in underground clubs outside of town. Many weekly commercial clubs have become redundant due to the advent of dating apps.
COVID-19 - 2020
We could talk about this one at length. Here’s everything in short:
Some clubs closed due to not getting help from the government as they fell through the net, or from not getting enough to cover their outgoings whilst they were closed for 18 months.
Some clubs closed due to not being able to keep up with the cost of putting on extra staff and infrastructure when NHS COVID passes were required.
Some clubs chose not to reopen as they just couldn’t afford the cost of re-hiring staff, restocking their venues, and cleaning their venues ready for re-launch.
Some clubs had low admissions due to the simple fear of catching COVID-19 – resulting in closure.
There was also a change in culture as people were not used to going out as much. We can’t deny that streaming DJ sets on Facebook and YouTube has changed things. We can have a house party at a fraction of the cost with our favourite DJs in front of us for free.
THE BIT AFTER - 2021
Post-COVID, I remember watching the ridiculous queues and cancellations of holidays at airports where the aviation industry just couldn’t keep up. I decided I’d just wait another year for a holiday once all the drama had settled, as I couldn’t be bothered with the uncertainty of it all and I settled for a staycation instead. Who could blame people for giving nights out at clubs a wide berth, as the close social contact of sweaty dance floors intensified the threat of catching COVID-19? This would then result in dealing with the nightmare of an inbox delivering social restrictions, work limitations, and illness
As well as jabs to our arms, there were also jabs to the guts of the industry as we came out of the pandemic. We had a spiking scandal across the country to deal with which hit clubs hard with students boycotting clubs. We also had strikes from all sectors of public transport. Here in Leeds, I remember all the local taxis striking on one of the first big weekends back, which hit the economies and sub-economies with a sledgehammer. Venues were just weeks away from closure as it was. We also had nightclubs making noise for the first time in 18 months, and newly moved in residents near venues would be making complaints about noise pollution and anything else which upset their equilibrium from late night operations. Getting back into business wasn’t as straightforward as many would have hoped.
Many train and bus timetables didn’t reinstate to pre-pandemic service. Trains used to run all night on a Saturday, connecting towns and cities on the big night out. All that has gone now, and you are lucky if trains run past 9 pm. Getting home from a gig or a club night between Leeds and Manchester is only possible if you are rich enough to get a cab or a hotel. Otherwise, it’s a catastrophe of staying out all night and getting the train home whilst looking like a train wreck.
The elephant in the room here is often local councils who don’t value nightlife as much as they should with it being such a big and viable economy. We recently had a venue in Leeds called Sheaf Street, which was run by such good, honest operators, that was pushed out of business by the gentrification of the area. Overnight, new housing appeared, the road layouts changed, and double yellow lines everywhere meant they had to close their doors forever. Gone were a host of club nights, art nights, comedy nights, people’s careers, and fathoms of culture.
BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH - 2022
The industry is changing, and spearheading this is bottomless brunch. For a fraction of the price of a night in a club, you can buy a small plate of food accompanied by a selection of drinks. I don’t think this was in the idea of ‘café culture’ Labour had 20 years ago. Yet here we are turning drinks in the afternoon to a very British rite of passage and utter carnage dressed up as a classy afternoon out.
Whilst these brunches have been going on for many years, it’s since the pandemic they have taken off, as people’s drinking and socialising habits have changed. Consider this change in perspective; if clubs were to do a similar offer of free drinks for 90 minutes with a small amount of food, they would be shut down within weeks for being irresponsible operators. Yet here we are, with legless drinkers throwing up on street corners, clashing with high street shoppers every Saturday afternoon, causing chaos and dysfunction. Many venues have dance floors – once again emulating the nightclub experience. Having said this, it’s a welcome extra income for the bar industry which has saved many venues from closure and given added value to their brands.
THE FUTURE – IT’S NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM!
Whilst we are losing clubs quicker than Liz Truss became a soggy lettuce, it’s not all wrecking balls from every corner of our industry. Far from it! Nightclubs have always changed, and so many venues are savvy and far-sighted enough to keep up with the times. Many clubs are doubling up the use of their venues and changing operations for diverse audiences instead of ‘one size fits all’ club nights.
Gone is the weekly Saturday night. In fashion is an old-skool rave one week, a synthpop brunch with an 80s PA the next, an ABBA night the next, a UK Garage event the week after. Chuck in the odd sober night and night which finishes at midnight for us old farts and you’re in business! Some venues utilise the space in the daytime for craft classes, socialising groups, and art drawing sessions – adding depth to buildings steeped in music and culture.
Many of the old-testament clubs which aren’t changing with the times are gradually becoming out of date and closing permanently as there isn’t anything special about them anymore – unaware of their stench of complacency.
