London is supposed to be the city where the party never stops and you can find a pint at any time of the night. But things are changing, and for some reason it’s getting harder and harder to stay out late in the UK capital.
It’s been a tough time for hospitality, with the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis hitting the industry hard. But the night economy is also changing on a cultural level, with pubs finding that people just don’t stay out as late anymore.
“We technically have a late license so we can stay open until 1am but it doesn’t make sense because people aren’t out that late anymore,” said Nadia Rochdi, assistant manager of The Eagle, a pub in Hoxton.
“I don’t think pubs are part of the culture that people go out that much anymore. The young people are now looking for cocktail bars or louder environments, so if you can’t stay open until 4am you don’t seem to get 18-26 year olds longer”.
Although we are no longer in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rochdi says its long-term effects are still affecting the pub and hospitality industry indirectly. “More and more people are working from home, so, for example, Friday night is no longer a thing. You make all the money on Thursday and Friday, it becomes a bit of a ghost town.” She said.
“There are no longer people in offices who come to visit us once or twice a week, when they have their day where they physically have to be here, the lunch breaks are not a thing anymore, people don’t come out for it and also people don’t the money for it any longer, as prices continue to rise.”
This affects how much money the pubs make and forces them to close earlier, as it is no longer worth staying open late into the night. But the staff is also hit hard by people wanting to stay at home more.
“I think the new normal we don’t know yet”
“What we’ve seen over the course of not only the pandemic but the cost of living crisis is this ebbing away from the nighttime economy,” said Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, a trade association that works on behalf of the nighttime economy.
Between 2016 and 2022, the number of night workers fell from 9.5 to 8.7 million, according to the ONS. Mr Kill also says operating costs have increased by around 30-40 per cent for night businesses. “It’s more expensive to operate, people are going out less because they don’t have the financial means they had before,” he said.
“Some of the reasons for that are around transport and accessibility, some of it is around people’s safety, because there are concerns about petty crime in places like Soho, that’s been a real challenge. But people just don’t have the money to go out like that often as they did.”
To help the night-time economy, Mr Kills says the key players need to work together to fix the problem, with precision in how the corporate rate is withdrawn. “I think the new normal we don’t know yet, we’re just adapting and working with what’s in front of us, I think we’ll know in 12 months.”
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