The ‘Last Night Out’ looms as UK clubs shut at alarming rate

A clock ticks down ominously as we wait the purported five years “until we lose them all…”, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) writes on a campaign to save the UK’s nightlife.

New findings from the NTIA shows that the UK has lost 37% of its clubs in the period since March 2020. That equates to three nightclubs shutting their doors every week and around 150 a year.

If closures continue at this rate, the final club in the entirety of Britain could close on 31 December 2029 – a night NTIA has dubbed ‘The Last Night Out‘.

While the nightclub doomsday clock is a dramatic touch, the NTIA has used this information as a clarion call to the UK government to support the nightclub industry as a key part of Britain’s cultural life.

“Nightclubs like Fabric, Ministry of Sound, and SubClub are more than just places to dance — they are cultural institutions, vital to our economy, community, and identity. They foster creativity, build lifelong friendships, and keep local economies thriving. However, with 10 clubs closing every month, these spaces are disappearing fast,” the petition reads.

NTIA CEO Michael Kill said: “Our industry is not just about entertainment; it’s about identity, community, and the economy. The loss of our venues means the loss of jobs, culture, and a vital part of the UK’s social fabric.”

With this in mind, the NTIA’s petition has specified some governmental action that would aid the industry. These include sustained financial support for the struggling sector, cultural protection to historically important clubs much like other cultural sites receive, and reform to licensing laws to help clubs affordably serve their prospective audiences.

“We’ve just waved goodbye to a government that seemed to have little time for culture and the arts, so we’re hoping the newly elected one will have a lot more,” Adam Taylor-Smith and Stephen Yeates, Senior Creatives at McCann London said of the Labour government elected this summer.

Newly appointed Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said in 2022 that she supported nightclubs and understood their value to local economies. “Every single town has lost a nightclub that they feel very strongly about, that was part of our history and our heritage. You know, in Wigan we had northern soul and we miss all of that greatly,” she told The Times.

Changing club scene

It’s unlikely that The Last Night Out in 2029 will see the closure of the final club. Instead, a few large companies will claim the spoils of smaller venues as the scene condenses into a measlier offering. However it’s not just clubs facing the squeeze. Live music venues across the UK are facing serious problems.

Last year, we reported on a “full-blown crisis” in the UK’s live music venue scene. British registered charity Music Venue Trust (MVT) released a statement in late 2023 that “125 venues have shut their doors for live music in the last 12 months, 15.7% of all such spaces in the UK.”

“It represents the loss of 4,000 jobs, 14,250 events, 193,230 performance opportunities, £9 million (€10.3 million) of income for musicians, and £59 million (€67.7 million) in lost direct economic activity.”

Similarly, the problem is seen across the continent. Berlin’s iconic club Watergate announced it was shutting its doors at the end of 2024, with the team citing “enormous financial pressure” as one of the reasons behind the closure. The co-founder of Watergate, Ulrich Wombacher, stated: “The days when Berlin was flooded with club-loving visitors are over, at least for now, and the scene is fighting for survival.”