Warning on London’s night time economy

Industry representatives have urged the mayor and the new government to give more support to the sector, reports Noah Vickers, reporter for local democracy.

London’s nightlife industry has warned that strict licensing laws, crime problems and staggering costs are pushing venues to the brink.

In public meetings at City Hall this week, industry representatives called on the mayor and the new government to provide more support to the sector.

It comes after data showed London suffered a net loss of around 40 pubs in the year to March 2023, despite an increase in pub employment.

Mayor Sadiq Khan last week acknowledged there were “post-pandemic challenges for all global cities” but claimed London was “ahead of that crowd”, adding that this summer had so far been “remarkable” for the capital’s night-time economy .

But at a cross-party inquiry into the issue, led by the London Assembly on Wednesday (24), industry experts said businesses faced a formidable array of problems, which made it harder for many to turn a profit.

Mark Williams, deputy chief executive of the Heart of London Business Alliance, told members of the assembly: “The evening and night-time economy in the West End is underperforming post-pandemic. Growth lines dictated that it should be around £15.5bn. It currently stands at around £14 billion.

“The supply has stagnated. Spending has increased, but behind this image, we are dealing with high living costs, supply disruptions, high operating costs, understaffing, overcrowding on the streets and an inefficient public realm, limited stepless access to stations , an increase in anti-social behavior and lack of facilities.”

Other concerns were heard on Thursday (25) when Emma Best, deputy leader of the City Hall Conservatives, hosted her own roundtable discussion with industry figures.

Michael Kill, executive director of the Night Time Industries Association, told the session that crime is part of the problem.

“In terms of safety, there’s a huge deterrent to going to places like Soho,” he said, adding that “petty crime is rife” and many businesses felt forced to “self-police” their premises , because they are not enough. local officers.

Jo May of the Soho Business Alliance criticized councils for imposing strict licensing requirements, which she said forced venues to close earlier than they would like, despite the number of tourists visiting London to enjoy of night life.

“They come to central London, they’re looking for places to go out and have fun, spend their money,” she said. “Soho runs on the sidewalks at 11 p.m. If you’re not a member of a club, apologize to the tourists – take your money back to the hotel and go to bed.”

Jo said bringing back duty-free shopping for tourists and reducing VAT for the hospitality sector would “really help” venues.

Asked about the issue at Mayor’s Questions last week, Khan said: “There are post-pandemic challenges for all global cities. I speak regularly with colleagues in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Tokyo, Montreal, Toronto, Sydney – all facing big challenges.

“The good news is that we’re ahead of that crowd in terms of coming back, relative to the overall nighttime economy coming back to our downtown.”

But he admitted there has been a change in “lifestyles” since the pandemic, with revelers increasingly keen to go on nights out in their local town center rather than necessarily traveling into central London.

Khan also admitted that labor shortage was a major challenge for the sector.

“There are three million people – freelancers and others – who have been excluded from any support from the government during the pandemic. A lot of them worked in the night economy, a lot of them found other jobs and didn’t come back,” he said, adding that Brexit also reduced the number of EU citizens who had previously filled vacancies.”

The mayor told the Assembly he was committed to having “conversations” with councils about “tensions” that may arise between residents and businesses. In addition, he said he is lobbying the government to make changes to the VAT system, create a fairer rates scheme for businesses, give more support to London Police and devolve more powers to City Hall .

“We’re in regular contact with these companies and there will be announcements over the next few weeks about some of the things we’re doing around supporting the night-time economy,” he said.

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