UK losing five nightclubs per week as industry demands “immediate intervention”

nme.com:

made a push for government action after finding that over 30 per cent of nightclubs in the UK were forced to close in 2023.Between March 2020 and December 2023, 396 nightclubs were forced to close permanently across the UK – a blow accounting for 31 per cent of the total businesses within the country.Once again, those worst impacted were the independent businesses, as tenanted businesses declined from 225 to 193 between December 2020 and December 2023 and managed businesses went down from 37 to 29 during the same period.Other findings emerged back in January last year when NTIA shared that one-third of UK nightclubs closed by the end of 2022, then again in August, when they revealed that over 100 independent nightclubs across the UK had closed down over the past year.More recently, at the start of the year the results were shared for 2023 – revealing a “disaster” that hit grassroots music venues across the 12 months.Among the key findings into their “most challenging year”, it has been reported that last year saw 125 UK venues abandon live music and that over half of them had shut entirely – including the legendary Moles in Bath.

Some of the more pressing constraints were reported as soaring energy prices, landlords increasing rate amounts, supply costs, business rates, licensing issues, noise complaints and the continuing shockwaves of COVID-19.In a bid to bring more attention to the rapid decline of the grassroots music sector, various artists and figures from the music industry spoke to NME earlier this month, as a government committee of UK MPs joined the call for a levy on arena and stadium gigs – as well as a cut in VAT – to support struggling grassroots music venues and artists.“We are grateful to the many.