With clubs closing and the rise of no-alcohol Britain, is this the death of the big night out?
Big nights out on the town are an undeniable part of British culture – but are they about to be consigned to the memories of those of us born before the turn of the century?
Nightlife experts warn we’re losing one club every two days at the moment – and if we stay on this trajectory, we will have none left by 2030.
“The main reason we’re seeing nightclubs close is that midweek nights have completely fallen away and it’s mainly down to the cost of living,” says Sacha Lord, night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester.
That was also the reason given by the owner of the UK’s biggest club chain when it announced a slew of closures earlier this month. Rekom, which owns popular club brands Pryzm and Atik, said it would be closing 17 venues because students hit by the cost of living crisis were cutting back on club nights.
Before the pandemic, Mr Lord explains, students would often be clubbing midweek – but now they’re having house parties instead to save money while they grapple with soaring rents and food prices.
“A nightclub business is not sustainable just on a Saturday night and a semi-good Friday night,” he says.
‘We used to hit the wine heavy – not so much now’
There’s another trend that is proving a challenge for nightlife businesses: Generation Z appears to be our most sober one yet.
The Portman Group’s 2023 annual survey with YouGov suggested 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds don’t drink alcohol at all.
While this is welcome in many ways, the UK’s ingrained booze culture means much of our night-time economy is centred around drinking.
Laura Willoughby, who runs Club Soda, an alcohol-free bar and shop, says older people are also starting to cut back on their drinking because they want a healthier lifestyle.
“We hit the wine quite heavy as women in that generation and we’re now hitting menopause so we’re looking to cut back,” she says.
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Laura Willoughby says people want choice more than anything. Pic: Club Soda
A recent report by hospitality research organisation KAM found 5.2 million fewer adults drank weekly last year than in 2021 – with three-quarters of adults moderating their alcohol intake to some extent.
Drinks expert Dan Whiteside believes the availability of information about the bad effects of alcohol and the rise of health influencers are also driving people to cut back.
“People have been going out less for quite some time,” he says.
“Clubs will probably become a thing of the past.”
What about the good old British pub?
Shifts in behaviour are also hitting pubs and restaurants.
It seems inconceivable that the British pub could suffer a similar fate to the nightclub, but experts say people drinking less and choosing to end their nights earlier are forcing many of these businesses to rethink their strategy.
Nearly 400 pubs in England and Wales closed their doors for good in the first half of 2023 – with many also blaming sky-high energy bills, soaring costs of ingredients and difficulties hiring staff.
Liam Davy, head of bars at steakhouse chain Hawksmoor, says: “I live in Hackney, which is one of the most vibrant boroughs in London in terms of late night economy. The number of late night businesses that have shut down or are really struggling, it really speaks to people doing things a little bit earlier.”
Liam Davy has seen a ‘big spike’ in sales of non-alcoholic drinks. Pic: Hawksmoor
So what will tempt customers back?
For Karl Considine, the “alternative choice” his alcohol-free cocktail bar offers appears to be a huge success.
Love From (@love.fromco) in Manchester is regularly packed with people sipping cocktails and enjoying a fun night out – but the difference is, everyone there is sober.
“I’m really clear on that we’re a night-time venue, not a daytime venue – we don’t do coffee, drinks or hot food,” he says.
Pic: Love From/@oliverlawsonfood
Mr Considine himself has struggled with alcohol addiction in the past, when he would find he could “never just have a quiet night” and would “always want to take it further”.
While Love From is a safe space for those in recovery, he is clear the bar is “absolutely” for everyone – including those who are drinkers but just want something different.
Karl Considine has struggled with alcohol addiction – and says his bar is a safe space for all. Pic: Love From/@oliverlawsonfood
Will alcohol-free bars become more popular?
Love From is not the only alcohol-free night-time venue to have popped up in recent years – among others, there’s also London’s LGBT club night House of Happiness and of course Club Soda.
But Ms Willoughby says she doesn’t think we’ll see a huge increase in alcohol-free venues like hers because “what people actually want is choice”.
Inside Club Soda in London. Pic: Club Soda
Many people are cutting down on alcohol rather than giving it up altogether, she says.
Club Soda runs workshops for retailers to learn about alcohol-free products, and those who ended up expanding their alcohol-free menus have seen their group bookings increase.
“Everybody wants to have a nice time – they don’t want to sit there with a tap water or a very sugary soda which they can only have one of – they want to participate fully,” she says.
No longer an afterthought
Low and no-alcohol products are now the fastest growing part of the industry.
Mr Whiteside says the amount and range of products has “exploded” in recent years, and they can be found in most bars and restaurants.
Meanwhile, Mr Davy says he’s seen a “big spike” in sales of non-alcoholic drinks.
His company has started paying more attention to that section of the menu “when to be honest in the past it might have been a bit more of an afterthought or something aimed at kids”.
Hawksmoor has started offering a wider selection of alcohol-free drinks – including this sour cherry no-groni. Pic: Hawksmoor
Although most pub and restaurant chains have adapted and now have better low and no-alcohol drinks menus, he says smaller businesses have been slower to make changes.
And of course it’s more difficult for nightclubs, which are arguably even more centred than alcohol than other businesses.
Then there’s that pervasive marketing problem – the perception that some of these products are overpriced, meaning people will instead opt for a cheap cola or lemonade when they’re not drinking.
So is there anything else businesses can do?
Mr Lord says he has been advising pubs to offer more event-based nights, such as darts or quizzes, to get people back in the door.
This is an opinion shared by Ms Willoughby, who says Generation Z is much more experience-led in their social lives.
“It’s not based around the strength of the drink in their glass and more about lovely evenings out,” she says.
A version of this feature recently appeared in our Money blog here.
UK
Grieving parents who lost their son during birth demand nationwide guidance after hospital failings
“When Finn was born, I turned to Ruth and said, just wait. He’ll cry, he’ll cry… But he never did,” says Martin, wiping tears from his eyes.
Warning: This article contains distressing content.
His wife, Ruth, had just given birth to their first son. But after a traumatic delivery, Finn was born pale and limp, needing urgent resuscitation.
Ruth was also injured, suffering a birthing tear so severe it required surgery.
As the room at the London-based birthing centre flooded with doctors ready to whisk their son away, Martin asked his wife: “What do you want me to do? Stay with you, or go with Finn?”
Follow Finn, she told him. As the plastic cot containing his newborn son was wheeled out of the room, a sense of helplessness swept over him. “There was nothing I could do for either of them,” he says, his voice breaking.
While we talk, both Ruth and Martin break down in tears, taking turns to comfort each other, but when I ask if they want to take a break, they refuse. They are clear that what matters now is sharing Finn’s story.
Ruth and Martin
“He was our first,” says Ruth, adding that she had no idea what to expect from the birth in June 2021. “Everyone was still coming out of COVID times.”
Despite this, she said the pregnancy “was smooth sailing”.
“It was when we turned up for the actual birth that things went horribly wrong.”
Ruth gave birth to Finn at the Oasis Birth Centre, a midwife-led unit within the Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington, Bromley. It is mainly used for women with uncomplicated pregnancies, with access to birthing pools, massages and aromatherapy.
If extra care is needed during labour, patients are transferred to a delivery suite which the hospital trust’s website says is “just seconds away”.
The website adds that it intends to give parents the “control and support” they need and a place where they can “feel at home”.
Martin says he and Ruth were left alone with little guidance
But that wasn’t Ruth’s experience.
From the moment she entered the building, she says: “I wasn’t being listened to.”
Despite her labour progressing quickly and feeling the “overwhelming” urge to push, Ruth says, the midwives largely left her and Martin alone in the birthing pool with no real guidance.
“I remember on a couple of occasions saying to Martin, ‘Why are they not with us? Why are they not telling us what to do?'” she adds.
During this period, midwives failed to identify that Finn was in foetal distress.
Tragically, he suffered a severe brain injury as a result of complications during labour. He was starved of oxygen, a condition called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
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Ruth and Martin would later learn that midwives failed to check Finn’s heart rate in line with national guidelines. There should have been at least 24 readings, but only eight were recorded.
One of his biggest regrets, says Martin, is that during the birth he told Ruth: “They are the professionals. We need to trust them.”
Ruth, Martin and their second child Remy
The brain damage Finn experienced during birth was so severe, consultants eventually recommended turning off the support that was keeping him alive.
Instead of leaving hospital with their beautiful baby boy, Ruth and Martin, in a deep state of shock, left with a memory box containing mementoes including a lock of Finn’s hair.
“No one expects that,” she adds tearfully.
“Finn had a blessing done by a vicar,” Martin recalls. “Then later that day, we turned his ventilator off and held him while he died.”
Ruth and Martin are now also parents to their second son, Remy, who has brought joy back into their lives. They are taking care to ensure the 17-month-old knows all about his big brother.
Martin says Remy has brought joy back into their lives
“We have Finn’s pictures around the house. Martin handmade the cot for Finn. It’s got his name engraved in it, and Remy uses it now,” Ruth says. “And we had Finn’s handprint made into a stamp so we can include him in birthdays and Christmas cards.”
The inquest into Finn’s death concluded on 25 April, Ruth’s birthday.
Coroner Dr Julian Morris found there was a lack of clear leadership at the birthing centre, and a failure to follow established guidelines in place. He committed to writing to all birth centres across London to give recommendations.
“If other birthing centres operate like that three years later, the likelihood is that more children will die as a result of poor care, understaffing, and a lack of leadership and management,” says Martin.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust apologised to the Kennedy family and said it “fully accepts” the coroner’s findings.
Ruth is now expecting her third child
Tracey Carter, director of midwifery for King’s College, said: “In recent years, we have made positive changes to maternity services at the trust, including a review of midwifery staffing, enhanced training for midwives and ensuring more senior supervision in the department at all times.”
But Martin thinks the same guidance needs to be given to birthing centres across the country, to help avoid future tragedies.
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For now, their focus is on their family, and getting justice for Finn.
“You have to carry on,” Martin says. “You have to pick yourself up and make sure you try and get justice for your children.”
The UK is increasingly vulnerable to the threat of missiles and drones after decades of cost-saving cuts eroded its once world-class air defences, military sources and Cold War veterans have warned.
Defence chiefs are understood to be exploring options to regrow Britain’s ability to protect critical national infrastructure – like power stations, military bases and government buildings – from the kind of Russian cruise and ballistic missile strikes that are devastating Ukraine.
But any credible “integrated air and missile defence” plan will cost billions of pounds and would likely require a further increase in defence spending beyond a proposed rise to 2.5% of national income recently announced by the prime minister, according to defence sources.
“Can the UK defend its cities from the skies if there was a barrage of missiles? No,” a senior defence source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Do the public know what to do in the event of an air attack? No… Put simply, are we defended? No.”
As part of a series called Prepared For War? Sky News visited air defence sites that once played a key role in protecting Britain during the Cold War – and spoke to veterans who were part of the force that had been on alert to respond to any Soviet air threat.
Pressing the big red button
Flicking a line of switches to prime a simulated batch of missiles from inside a cabin at an old military-base-turned-museum in Norfolk, a former Royal Air Force technician watches a screen as a radar scans for enemy aircraft.
“It’s picked up a target,” says Robert Findlater, pointing at a dot on the monitor, which looks more like a retro computer game.
Robert Findlater, a former Royal Air Force technician who was on the UK’s Bloodhound unit
A beeping noise indicates the signal from the radar is becoming stronger as the hostile aircraft approaches.
Once in range, red letters on one of the screens that had read “hold fire” switch to the words “free to fire”, written in green.
Mr Findlater leans forward and presses a big red button.
Suddenly there is a roar as the simulated noise of a missile blasting off shakes the cabin.
The Bloodhound air defence missile, powered with a Rolls Royce engine, could reach 60 miles per hour in a tenth of a second before rocketing up to twice the speed of sound as it powered towards an enemy aircraft or missile – state-of-the-art technology in its day.
“We’ve been successful in our launch,” the RAF veteran says, with a smile.
The Bloodhound air defence missile could reach 60 miles per hour in a tenth of a second
It could then rocket up to twice the speed of sound as it powered towards an enemy aircraft or missile
He then peers back at the screen, watching a line of what looks like radio waves jumping up and down, until there is a spike to indicate the missile closing in on the target.
“It [the radar] is now looking for the missile, and there she is in the beam. Next thing you see – that’s the warhead.
“It’s gone off, and you killed it,” the veteran says, finishing the simulation.
Long retired, Mr Findlater joined the RAF in 1968.
He rose up through the ranks to become chief technician on a Bloodhound unit, charged with ensuring the missiles were ready and able at all times to fire at any threat.
Retired equipment at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum in Norfolk
Stepping outside the cabin, from where the system was operated, to a patch of grass, the veteran showed Sky News around the actual weapon – a lethal-looking collection of rockets and warheads, painted white and lying horizontal now, rather than pointing towards the sky.
Asked what message it had been designed to send to NATO’s former Warsaw Pact foes, Mr Findlater said with a chuckle: “Don’t come knocking… It says we’re ready for you.”
The ground-based systems, which had been dotted around the UK’s coastlines, used to be part of a layered grid of Cold War air defences that also included fighter jets and other weapons.
But the entire arsenal of Bloodhound air defence missiles was taken out of service after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, while air bases and fast jet squadrons were reduced to save money as successive prime ministers took what has been described as a “peace dividend”.
There had been talk at the time of investing in US-made Patriot air defence systems – an even more capable piece of kit that remains a core part of the air defences of the United States and a number of other NATO allies.
“But I think the government just gave up and shut everything down because there was no threat any more,” Mr Findlater said.
Asked whether he thought the UK was well defended now, he said: “I don’t feel we’re defended, no, not at all.”
As for how that made him feel, he said: “Sad… Considering what we had in the 1970s and 1980s.”
Frozen in time
Also at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum is an old Cold War operations room – frozen in time, with giant boards along one wall, charting the number of fighter jets once ready to scramble.
There are also rows of desks, fitted with radar screens and important-looking buttons.
John Baker, 69, once worked in this hub as an aircraft identification and recognition officer.
An old Cold War operations room at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum
John Baker, 69, once worked as an aircraft identification and recognition officer
Asked if the UK’s air defences had been prepared for war back when he served, he said: “We practised. There were exercises for war.
“Every couple of months or so there would be a small exercise and once or twice a year there would be a major NATO exercise in which this – because this radar site was closest to Europe – would be the epicentre.”
While cautioning that he was no longer up-to-date on the military’s air defence capabilities, he sounded less certain about whether they could handle a major attack today.
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“If hundreds and hundreds of drones and cruise missiles were to come in. I don’t think we could safely take out all of them,” Mr Baker said.
He added: “I’m glad I did my time back then – and not now.”
Air defences ‘woefully inadequate’
The UK does have highly capable air defence equipment – just no longer enough of it to be able to protect the vast array of critical infrastructure across the country and also to defend troops deployed on operations overseas.
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Making the situation more grave is a growth in the quality and quantity of missiles and drones that hostile states such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have developed.
At present, the RAF has just nine frontline fast jet squadrons – including the quick reaction alert aircraft that are at the sharp end of defending against any air threat.
While modern jets – F-35 and Typhoon – are far more sophisticated than their predecessors, the UK had 30 frontline squadrons towards the end of the Cold War.
RAF F-35B Lightning II aircraft, seen on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth moored in Limassol, Cyprus, in 2021. Pic: Reuters
The Royal Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers are kitted with the country’s only ballistic missile defence systems.
But only three of these ships are “available for operations”, according to a navy spokesperson, including one that is deployed on operations in the Middle East.
On land, the military has around six Sky Sabre ground-based air defence systems – each one able to shoot down multiple missiles.
But at least two of these weapons – almost certainly more – are deployed overseas, and those in the UK only have a very limited range.
HMS Diamond is one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 Destroyers. Pic: Reuters
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Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, called the UK’s current array of air defences “woefully inadequate”.
Britain does benefit from its geography, with a lot of European NATO countries between its shores and Russia.
However, the air defences of many European nations have also been reduced to save money since the Soviet Union collapsed.
“We always hear this argument from the Ministry of Defence that gaps in our own capability are acceptable because we’re part of an alliance,” Mr Watling said.
“It’s a little bit like if you were going round to a ‘bring your own booze’ party and you said: ‘Well, there’s other people coming, so I’m not going to bring any alcohol’.
“If everyone adopts that approach, then there is simply nothing to drink. And when we look across NATO, there is an overall shortage [in air defences].”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The UK is well prepared for any event and defence of the UK would be taken alongside our NATO allies.
“As part of our commitment to invest an extra £75bn for defence over the next six years, we continue to review potential opportunities to develop our capabilities and modernise air defence across Europe in close discussion with allies and partners.”
A man has been charged with murder after 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin was killed and four people were injured near a London Tube station.
Two Metropolitan Police officers were among those hurt as they responded to reports of an attacker with a sword in Hainault, northeast London, on Tuesday.
The man charged has been named as Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo, a 36-year-old dual Spanish-Brazilian national from Newham, east London.
He has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
Monzo will appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The families of all those affected by the incident have been informed.
Daniel Anjorin was killed as he walked to school. Pic: Met Police
Daniel Anjorin was a pupil at Bancroft’s private school in Woodford Green – also attended by Nottingham attack victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar.
Staff and pupils at the school said they were in “profound shock and sorrow” at his death.
Daniel’s family told Sky News he was “a wonderful child” who was “well loved” and “hard working” – and that his death “leaves a gaping wound in the family”.
“No family should have to go through what we are experiencing today,” they said. “Any family will understand it’s an absolute tragedy.”
Floral tributes for Daniel have been placed in Hainault. Pic: PA
Monzo is accused of crashing a van into a fence just before 7am, and attacking two members of the public with a sword.
It is alleged he then killed the 14-year-old and seriously injured two police officers as they tried to stop him – one of whom nearly lost her hand.
The suspect was initially taken to hospital after suffering injuries in the van crash.
Jaswant Narwal, chief crown prosecutor for CPS London North, said: “Our thoughts remain firmly with the family of Daniel and all those who have been impacted by this horrific incident.”
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“We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that they have a right to a fair trial,” she continued.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
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