The last dance? Bosses fear for future as ‘perfect storm’ sees third of nightclubs close
Christmas and New Year party season is one of the most lucrative times of the year for nightclubs.
But post-COVID pandemic many are continuing to struggle, with a third now being forced to close.
Those still open say a perfect storm is making it extremely difficult to operate.
Yuval Hen, founder of E1 nightclub in London, told Sky News he sometimes feels like a “punching bag”.
“We need to please a lot of different authorities, from police, council, the local community, the residents, the customers, the agents, the management – so many different bodies and they are all pulling in a different direction,” he said.
Nightclub owner Yuval Hem
“It’s a constant battle, and now recently, after two years of COVID, where we were hoping for a big comeback of having fun, of parties, of bringing back our businesses to pay back our big loans that we were taking during COVID, we thought ‘this is our time’ and the economy [has] again gone.”
“And we have the living crisis started and the war in Russia and Ukraine and yeah, everything hit us so hard at the same time.”
The night-time culture economy brings in £36.4bn – and also provides 425,000 jobs across the UK.
It’s also an essential part of the music industry’s eco-system, with even those at the top of their careers concerned by the impacts of closures.
Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Craig David told Sky News clubs were an essential part of the machine that got him to where he is today.
“Grassroots is where I started my music, so I was in those clubs, I was in the social club practising and DJing,” he said.
Craig David
“So for me working my way up from a young kid with aspirations and dreams to actually being able to perform, grassroots, the clubs are everything to me.
“I really hope that that maintains the same – there has to be balance. I know people want to change things, they want to update, they want to build new things and things move on but there has to be balance, because you can’t lose at the same time.”
Clubbers will also lose out as venues close their doors permanently, as they have provided a home for parts of British culture – and counterculture – for decades.
An empty nightclub
If clubs are left empty it will not just leave a hole in the industry but could also force music lovers underground.
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, said: “The worry that we have with everything is as we start to lose clubs and things like counterculture, electronic music, etc. If there are no spaces or platforms for people to perform, then they will find spaces for people to perform.
“We saw that in the late 80s when the freedom to dance movement came out and people decided that they weren’t willing to allow their nights to end in line with where that current government was asking the terminal hour to be.
“They went out and there were underground raves, that really sort of were counterproductive for government, for policing and when you talk about costs to operate the night-time economy, that really put so much pressure on everybody because it exploded at that period.”
Club 49 in Soho
“What we’re concerned about is we’re going to get to a point where clubs are going to be lost at such a level that people are just going to decide to start looking at other sites and places which are unregulated, potentially don’t have the safety protocols in place, the licences, the security…
“And that’s where there is a real fear.”
There are calls for the government to help the night-time economy by freezing alcohol duty, or helping with VAT bills, as without support it will be the last dance for many nightclubs.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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