It is 1am on Thursday night in Soho, central London, and the cacophony of music and drunken chatter from the clubs has already died down. Bar managers are shuttering doors as men sitting in pink, fluffy rickshaws wait for the final revellers to start making their way home.
“In New York right now, I could find an open bar in a second,” says George Johnson, 30, who works in the live music business. “London’s an early city now. Everything is shut by 1am.”
London was once a world-class nightlife destination but it now has fewer venues open past 2am than any other major British city.
The Times analysed the closing times of hundreds of pubs, nightclubs and bars in the 12 biggest British cities. London ranked the lowest, with less than 6 per cent of venues open after 2am on Friday and Saturday.
Even on Friday and Saturday nights, less than a quarter of London’s venues open past midnight. In Edinburgh, on the other hand, 44 per cent of venues close after midnight at the weekends, with more than 8 per cent open post-2am.
London is one of eight cities in which less than 10 per cent of late-night venues are open past 2am, joining smaller cities such as Sheffield, Bristol and Brighton.
The capital has long lost its reputation for being a 24-hour city. Data collated by the Night-Time Industries Association (NTIA) found that between March 2020 and December 2023 more than 3,000 night economy businesses closed in London and the surrounding boroughs — the steepest fall for any English region.
While London’s “night tsar”, Amy Lamé, did facilitate the reopening of techno club Fabric, she has repeatedly come under fire for the lack of perceived action in preventing other venue closures, despite her hefty annual salary and regular overseas trips.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the NTIA, said people are simply not staying out as late as they used to, primarily because they have “less disposable income, and concerns about infrastructure and the ability to get home after midnight”.
In Manchester, the birthplace of Oasis and The Stone Roses, nightlife is thriving compared with London, with 14.5 per cent and 15.8 per cent of bars and clubs open after 2am on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Sacha Lord, the city’s night-time economy adviser, said new transport and infrastructure developments mean the city “feels very buoyant at the moment”.
In 2018, he asked the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham: “How can we call Manchester a 24-hour party city when we do not have 24-hour transport?” Two of the city’s busiest bus routes now run all night, which, along with the May opening of the Co-op Live music arena — with 23,500 seats, the biggest in Europe — has led to renewed confidence in Manchester’s nightlife.
But Lord acknowledged that bars were struggling with “midweek footfall dying away” because of the soaring cost of living.
“Students, rather than paying £3 to get in on a Tuesday night and then stay there until 2 or 3am at the bar, are going to Sainsbury’s and buying a bottle of vodka and having a house party instead,” he said.
Lord is expected to take up an independent national night-time adviser position, in addition to his current role, to feed into policy for the sector across the UK.
Jeremy Joseph, 57, owned three venues in London and one in Manchester before pressures on the industry forced him to close down his London nightclub G-A-Y Late and franchise his Manchester club.
“Spend per head has dropped dramatically,” he explained. “Venues are now competing against supermarkets, because they’re cheaper.”
Joseph’s remaining establishments — G-A-Y Bar and Heaven — are serving the same number of customers as ever, he says, but he now opens on Wednesdays to try to make up for the decreased spending.
Rob Huysinga, 29, the founder of Bubba Oasis, which operates bars in Islington and Clapham, has said sales “start to drop off” from 2am.
He plans to open two more bars next year, but said he’s adapting to become less “reliant on the late-night economy”. About 75 per cent of his venues’ revenue comes from alcohol sales but he is focusing more on bolstering other revenue streams, such as selling coffee and fresh juice, and offering yoga events, hot-desk working space and alcohol-free DJ nights.
“We are going towards a world that is more health-conscious and this will ultimately impact the late-night economy,” Huysinga said.
Combined with higher rent and energy costs, low customer spending spells trouble for London’s once-vibrant nightlife scene. Kill said: “The reality is, it is 30 per cent to 40 per cent more expensive to operate compared to pre-Covid.”
A producer at Powerhauss Cabaret who uses the stage name Shard O’Nay was partying at Louche Soho on Thursday. She said she had seen first-hand how many venues were “closing” and “cancelling gigs”.
“People cannot afford to go on nights out because they have to plan their meals and other financial needs,” the 26-year-old said. “Whereas a night out was a staple of the weekend before, now it’s such a luxury.”
In Edinburgh, a cheap night out is easier to come by. Just before midnight on a Friday, a queue of punters snaked out the entrance of the Why Not club. Inside, the venue offered shots of tequila for £1.75 as part of its Filthy Fridays promotion — a magnet for local students.
Edinburgh University students Erica Knox and Agnetha Kempe, both 18, said they would be there until closing at 3am.
“I love going out in Edinburgh,” Knox said. “It’s quite civilised. You see the police driving around everywhere so you feel quite safe, and everything being open late gives the city a good vibe.”
In London, crime has become a major problem for business-owners and customers alike. Kill said the risk of “sexual harassment and petty theft”, particularly in crowded areas such as Soho, deterred people as there was “no CCTV” and “not enough police on the street to ensure these things are not happening”.
Two visitors to Soho on Thursday night, 18-year-old students Lauren Gold and Frankie Smith, said they preferred house parties, as the streets felt dangerous and Ubers were increasingly “expensive and hard to come by”.
The crime levels also frightened them, they said, as a group of men with hoods and masks covering their faces rode past on e-bikes. Down the road, a toothless man was spitting at passers-by and threatening them with a wine glass full of urine.
“This strange vibe puts off girls as unless you’re going out in a group, you don’t feel as comfortable or safe,” Gold said.
Milad, 27, works in a 24-hour off-licence in the heart of Soho. He estimated that between five and ten people came into the shop every day asking employees to call 999 or pull CCTV footage because their phone had been stolen.
Westminster’s entire CCTV system was scrapped by the council in 2016. Since taking control of the borough in 2022, Labour has installed 100 public-realm CCTV cameras to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
Joseph employs 35 security personnel across his venues on a Saturday. Despite paying the late-night levy, which requires premises serving alcohol after midnight to contribute money for policing, he said it can take 40 minutes to get through on 999 on a Saturday night.
Rowdy behaviour also upsets local residents. Venues are already required to prevent public nuisance, including excessive noise, outside venues under the 2003 Licensing Act. But a small number of resident complaints can lead to costly licence reviews.
The Compton Arms, famed as a favourite of George Orwell, almost closed after resident complaints prompted Islington council to review its licence and enforce a noise abatement notice. Some venues report spending thousands on legal fees to fight these licensing reviews.
Joseph’s solution was to purchase the two flats adjacent to Heaven. “The law favours residents,” he said. “Heaven has been there for 45 years, yet somebody could move into the area and affect our business.”
Huysinga said: “On the face of it, it seems really fun operating party spots, but there is a lot the outside world doesn’t see.”
Lilli, a 21-year-old Leeds University graduate, prays that Soho’s nightlife will weather the storm, and partying until the sun rises will not become a thing of the past. “If pubs and nice bars stayed open later, I’d be there,” she said.
