The nightclub industry has literally been pounded by Covid. If it were a boxing match, nightclubs would have been knocked out in the first round within 10 seconds of the starting bell. Tyson Fury (on acid) would be their CV19 opponent.
And it’s a huge industry in the UK, generating £3bn a year in revenue for the economy. Globally that figure equates to approximately £26.5bn.
While restaurants were able to quickly adapt to form takeaway services during lockdown, fashion boutiques created their online shops and fitness instructors were doing paid for at home classes… nightclubs have literally been waiting in the wings for some good news from Boris. Which hasn’t happened in almost a year.
A year is a long time for a nightclub or DJ. To pay astronomical leases, furloughed wages and maintain their business and brands – while their doors are firmly closed is nigh-on-impossible.
Carlo Carello, co-founder of Boujis, admits he’s had to let go of great staff as he can’t afford to even pay through the furlough scheme with zero income.
“The outbreak of coronavirus has forced nightclubs to close indefinitely and devasting restrictions have been brought in without anything like the proportionate support packages. It is highly disconcerting that our fate now rests in the hands of people like Matt Hancock and Dominic Cummings – each with their large state salaries, pensions and inevitable future earnings from book deals on how they grappled with Covid.”
Now in lockdown 3.0 with no date in the near horizon for even a tennis club opening (2 players 10 metres apart) what hope do these dance venues have in reopening to at least catch a slice of the summer 2021 trade?
The thing is, if you’d said back in February 2020 your industry is going to be battered for a year and you were in that business arena, you would have probably found something else to do. Yet, nightclubs (and let’s face it all DJ’s, bars and festivals fall under this bracket too) weren’t privileged with hindsight.
With the reopening of bars, restaurants, sports facilities and cinemas very quickly after Lockdown 1 last summer it led the whole nightclub industry to believe Covid was being conquered and it was only a matter of days or at most weeks until their businesses followed suit.
They never got the call though.
It’s too long a time to literally wait for your bread to be buttered again. That’s a staggering figure of 45,000 people in the UK alone.
While every lockdown has taken its toll on the masses – those in the entertainment and nightclub trades have borne the brunt. Not only financially but in terms of mental health too.
When as a career you are used to being flat out at least 5 days and nights a week running a club, when the rug is pulled away from underneath you, what do you do?
While many people in “normal” 9-5 jobs have relished the extra time with family….nightclub owners who are predominantly single men in their 30’s or 40’s with no family don’t have that fallback plan.
They are married to their jobs and can’t play in the garden with their kids because they are unmarried, have no kids, live in a studio flat alone and are used to working 24/7.
And to have their one true love – their industry and careers taken away from them – is heartbreaking.
Jon Besant, entertainment agent, promoter and DJ in the UK & Dubai, knows of a staggering 8 suicides of men in the nightclub industry in the past month alone. A figure that stretches into its 40’s over the past year. And the reason why?
“Sadly, a lot of people – particularly DJ’s and artists – live hand to mouth. The financial pressures that Covid has put on them and fear of the future is the main reason I believe suicide has been so rife in the industry.”
Plus, as lockdown months have passed and sanctions haven’t been lifted for this sector, many nightclub owners have faultered on their leases and lost the venues that made their whole business.
You only have to drive through London to see thousands of major clubs with bordered up windows and for sale signs. There’s a threat of up to 75% of music venues across the country closing by the end of the year, according to UK nightclub industry body NTIA.
Since the start of Covid, the group have set up a Save Nightlife Campaign asking for donations from the general public. If you want to contribute head to www.savenightlife.com.
If you donate £25 or more you will receive a #LetUsDance T-shirt free of charge.
There needs to be some end to the madness for these people. Save our souls and the nightclub industry. Boris we plead to you.
