Without urgent intervention the UK looks set to see “the end of a clubbing era that has defined generations”, according to industry experts.
Ahead of next week’s autumn budget, Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Nighttime Industries Association (NTIA), has spoken to Sky News about the urgent need for government support to protect a “vital part of the UK’s social fabric”.
“We are witnessing the systematic dismantling of the nighttime economy. Our industry is not just about entertainment; it’s about identity, community, and the economy,” he said.
New research by the NTIA shows that in the past four years the UK has lost 37% of its clubs, which works out at about 10 clubs closing each month.
Not only has the cost of living meant more of us are going out less, the nighttime industries have had to grapple with rising operational costs, with one recent NTIA flash poll of 500 businesses finding that seven out of 10 are either barely breaking even or operating at a loss.
The NTIA says things are so bleak that if the current rate of closures continues then on 31 December 2029 we will have no more clubs in the UK.
As Mr Kill explains: “The concern is that as we move towards the budget, the narrative that’s coming out is quite dour….looking at alcohol duty and potentially things like the ban on smoking…all of those things are quite onerous and cost heavy.”
“We need the government to give us a bit of a break and the financial headroom to be able to allow businesses to survive.”
At a tough time for the club scene reinvention is proving to be key.
Actor and music lover Vicky McClure has stumbled across a way to get people back dancing – running a successful daytime clubbing event with her husband called Day Fever.
“I don’t think we’ve reinvented the wheel but I think what we’ve captured is something that everybody really wants,” McClure told Sky News.
So far the touring events have sold out, which McClure puts down to people having “very different lives, different shifts and with childcare”.
While some owners struggle to keep permanent venues afloat, others are finding more success working in “meanwhile spaces”.
Simeon Aldred is the co-founder and head of strategy at Broadwick Live, a company responsible for the club Drumsheds, one of the world’s largest nightclubs that’s currently running on the site of Tottenham’s old Ikea in north London.
Swapping Swedish meatballs for sound systems, flatpacks for phat beats, the vast furniture warehouse is hosting some of the biggest names in dance music.
“I’d imagine [this] is temporary,” says Mr Aldred. “Our landowner is looking to do housing with Enfield council…London needs more houses.
“That gap between old and new development…working in meanwhile spaces….it really helps landlords and places to experiment with size and scale, does food work there? Does music work there? How can [they] take that into permanence in some form?”
Mr Aldred says one of their aims is to prove how “culture can work within a masterplan” of community redevelopment.
“Linking into the community is really, really important to create that resilience,” he insists.
Of course, reinvention can only do so much. With an average of three clubs closing each week, if we really want to preserve the UK club scene, rather than showing off about our former dancing days, what UK clubs could really do with is a few more of us showing up.
Bosch will cut up to 5,500 jobs as it struggles with slow electric vehicle sales and competition from Chinese imports.
It is the latest blow to the European car industry after Volkswagen and Ford announced thousands of job cuts in the last month.
Cheaper Chinese-made electric cars have made it trickier for European manufacturers to remain competitive while demand has weakened for the driver assistance and automated driving solutions made by Bosch.
The company said a slower-than-expected transition to electric, software-controlled vehicles was partly behind the cuts, which are being made in the car parts division.
Demand for new cars has fallen overall in Germany as the economy has slowed, with recession only narrowly avoided in recent years.
The final number of job cuts has yet to be agreed with employee representatives. Bosch said they would be carried out in a “socially responsible” way.
About half the job reductions would be at locations in Germany.
Bosch, the world’s biggest car parts supplier, has already committed to not making layoffs in Germany until 2027 for many employees, and until 2029 for a subsection of its workforce. It said this pact would remain in place.
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The job cuts would be made over approximately the next eight years.
The Gerlingen site near Stuttgart will lose some 3,500 jobs by the end of 2027, reducing the workforce developing car software, advanced driver assistance and automated driving technology.
Other losses will be at the Hildesheim site near Hanover, where 750 jobs will go by end the of 2032, and the plant in Schwaebisch Gmund, which will lose about 1,300 roles between 2027 and 2030.
Its remaining German plants are also set to be downsized.
While Germany has been hit hard by cuts, it is not bearing the brunt alone.
Earlier this week, Ford announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs across Europe – including 800 in the UK – as the industry fretted over weak electric vehicle (EV) sales that could see firms fined more for missing government targets.
Cambridge University’s wealthiest college is putting the long-term lease of London’s O2 arena up for sale.
Sky News has learnt that Trinity College has instructed property advisers to begin sounding out prospective investors about a deal.
Trinity, which ranks among Britain’s biggest landowners, acquired the site in 2009 for a reported £24m.
The O2, which shrugged off its ‘white elephant’ status in the aftermath of its disastrous debut in 2000, has since become one of the world’s leading entertainment venues.
Operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group, it has played host to a wide array of music, theatrical and sporting events over nearly a quarter of a century.
The opportunity to acquire the 999-year lease is likely to appeal to long-term income investment funds, with real estate funds saying they expected it to fetch tens of millions of pounds.
Trinity College bought the lease from Lend Lease and Quintain, the property companies which had taken control of the Millennium Dome site in 2002 for nothing.
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The college was founded by Henry VIII in 1546 and has amassed a vast property portfolio.
It was unclear on Friday why it had decided to call in advisers at this point to undertake a sale process.
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Trinity College Cambridge did not respond to two requests for comment.
Clothing stores were particularly affected, where sales fell by 3.1% over the month as October temperatures remained high, putting shoppers off winter purchases.
Retailers across the board, however, reported consumers held back on spending ahead of the budget, the ONS added.
Just a month earlier, in September, spending rose by 0.1%.
Despite the October fall, the ONS pointed out that the trend is for sales increases on a yearly and three-monthly basis and for them to be lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Retail sales figures are significant as household consumption measured by the data is the largest expenditure across the UK economy.
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The data can also help track how consumers feel about their financial position and the economy more broadly.
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2:30
Business owners worried after budget
Consumer confidence could be bouncing back
Also released on Friday was news of a rise in consumer confidence in the weeks following the budget and the US election.
Market research company GfK’s long-running consumer confidence index “jumped” in November, the company said, as people intended to make Black Friday purchases.
It noted that inflation has yet to be tamed with people still feeling acute cost-of-living pressures.
It will take time for the UK’s new government to deliver on its promise of change, it added.
A quirk in the figures
Economic research firm Pantheon Macro said the dates included in the ONS’s retail sales figures could have distorted the headline figure.
The half-term break, during which spending typically increases, was excluded from the monthly statistics as the cut-off point was 26 October.
With cold weather gripping the UK this week clothing sales are likely to rise as delayed winter clothing purchases are made, Pantheon added.