Cllr Ruby Sampson is a councillor for Cockfosters Ward on Enfield Council.
This is dedicated to every girl I’ve cried with, laughed with, shared boy advice and perfume with in a club toilet.
Britain’s licensed premises have dropped below 100,000 for the first time in 20 years, with more than 44,000 net outlets lost since 2003, equivalent to just over six closures every day for the last two decades. The largest losses have been drink-led pubs, bars and nightclubs, which have seen a net decline of 43.6 per cent over the period.
I’m making the feminist case for clubbing. Clubbing used to be a coming-of-age ritual in every generation. Yet now Britain’s clubs are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Clubs were chronically affected by the Covid pandemic and lockdowns. They were the first to close and last to reopen. But with the final lockdown being three years ago, the dramatic decline of clubs has only increased since then.
Since 2020, more than 1,100 bars and clubs shut in just three years and between March 2020 and December 2023, a staggering 396 nightclubs were forced to close their doors – a devastating blow, accounting for 31 per cent of all clubbing businesses within the UK.
The decline in clubbing culture among young people has many roots. Students who turned 18 during the pandemic didn’t start the coming-of-age ritual of clubbing due to lockdown restrictions, and late joiners to this lifestyle have not proven to be converts. The cost-of-living crisis means students who do go clubbing are buying less drinks, going out later and coming home earlier. Generation Z have been dubbed the sober generation. They have gained recognition for their lifestyle choices of limiting their alcohol content (around a third of people aged 18-24 do not drink alcohol at all) but those who do drink, primarily do so as a treat, to relax, or to mark a special occasion.
Speaking to people from my parents’ generation, who did enjoy their own experience of clubbing, they are openly pleased their children aren’t spending their weekends clubbing. The stigma of clubbing means many parents happily promote the fact their children don’t participate in this age-old ritual. With associations of binge drinking and casual hookups, parents are relieved their children aren’t spending Saturday nights downing Jägerbombs.
Data shows that between March 2020 and December 2023, a total of 3,011 night economy businesses closed in London and its surrounding boroughs – the steepest fall for any English region. In London, 1,165 nighttime economy businesses were lost in the same time period.
But the simple fact is this: we just want to dance.
What I love about clubbing is the bubble of the girls’ bathroom. The peak of feminism exists in every girls’ club bathroom across the world. We dance to different songs with different people, but the ethos of the girls’ bathroom is the same. It’s the place where the cubicle is covered with motivational positive graffiti. It’s the place we confide in total strangers – and promise to meet up afterwards.
It’s the place where the white noise of ‘you are so beautiful’ and ‘he’s not worth it’ exists.
Every girl is an ally in a club. We immediately pretend to know strangers if they feel vulnerable or have lost their friends.
Most recently I was in Simmons, in Leicester Square, until three in the morning. One of the best moments was being in the bathroom being complimented on my outfit and borrowing a girl’s hairbrush.
Sadiq Khan has just won a third term as Mayor of London. He needs to urgently address the issues deterring customers from going to late night venues.
Customers are understandably being put off using the night-time economy when their evening out is marred by having their phone stolen, which happens every six minutes in London, or being sexually harassed or assaulted.
We need CCTV in open spaces like Leicester Square, we need to increase the number of police officers in London. There is an exodus of police officers – with 1,300 leaving the Met during their first two years and nearly a third of current officers planning to leave in the same timeframe.
The police need better funding to deal with violent criminals who target vulnerable customers leaving late night venues. We need more police so they can reach crime scenes more quickly and feel equipped to deal with the situations they are facing. The Met is now losing more officers than it is recruiting, causing a potential shortfall of 1,500 officers, resulting in police officers not being able to reach 999 calls in time. Retention and conditions are critical to building a police force can respond to late-night crime efficiently as their resources aren’t being so thinly spread.
We also need designated officers to provide police presence nearby bars and clubs. Safer neighbourhood officers provide support to the night-time economy as part of their overtime work. But designated officers could look at crime trends with venues and Business Improvement Districts and work to tackle the problems with targeted patrols (including plain-clothed officers) at key times of the night.
Customers and staff alike struggle to get home safely from a night out. With the last train home being around midnight and the night tube being too infrequent, those who work in and visit clubs are left waiting on empty platforms after dark. Transport schedules need to mirror the times customers are leaving late night venues, especially with staff having to travel back even later.
But let’s not demonise clubbing, we just want to dance with our friends.