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  • Lights Out for Brit Nightclubs?

    • 03/22/2016
    • ADB
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    Those oh-so efficient British…they manage to take the fun out of everything by attempting to measure it logically. They actually have an official bureaucracy for it: the Office for National Statistics' (ONS). This government watchdog is an odd basket of goods and services. The whole thing is updated annually and used to calculate inflation and also reflects England’s changing tastes.

    Among the vital information it painstakingly monitored in the past: In the 1970s it tracked the popularity of polyester trousers and practical things like burning coal for domestic use. In recent years the ONS has kept tabs on frozen pizza and white emulsion…things all the world depends upon. 

    This week it was the turn of nightclub entry fees. Shocking news! The nightclub has fallen out of fashion so much that it is no longer viewed as statistically significant by the Office for National Statistics. "With the number of nightclubs charging entry declining," explains ONS statistician Phil Gooding, "we can no longer justify keeping these fees in the basket.” Essentially, Official British-dom is declaring that nightclubs are so passe that they are no longer bothering to even try to relate to them. Off they go into the ether, to be discarded with the Dodo bird and 8 track tapes. 

    A decade ago there was a rousing 3,144 night clubs across the country, according to the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR). Last year, there were just 1,733. (American Bars thinks part of the problem is that the Brit government manages to find a way to regulate, tax and license most everything in the country. And then they monitor it to death. )

    The long list of press articles reporting the demise of nightclubs in cities across the country reads like a continuous body count, each one a casualty of changing society. Not even Austin Powers can bring them back…if anyone still remembers Austin Powers. 

    Horrors! The British culture may never recover from the ever-decreasing pool of venues to go to party. Left behind is a graveyard of empty shells and dulled disco balls in a growing expanse of  abandoned nightspots. The official government reason for this is shocking indeed.

    According to officialdom, the typical patrons of nightclubs - the young - have sworn off alcohol. (Yes, this is another sign of the End of the World as We Know It) One in five 16-to-24-year-olds do not drink, according to the ONS, and this has increased by nearly half between 2005 and 2013. (Yes, clever American Bars readers immediately noticed that over half of that group would not even be legal drinkers in the U.S. — and most of that same group usually has no money for things like drinking and partying.) 

    Those who do drink increasingly choose to do so away from nightclubs. Successive generations have lopped off the final step of the traditional "pre-drinks at home, drinks in a bar or pub, then club" night out. Many drinkers now stay at home until late in the evening, then visit a late-opening pub or bar, then go back home.

    According to the British Beer and Pub Association, Britons drink more than a quarter less beer now than at the turn of the millennium. And where they drink has changed. "Off-trade" sales (those bought in supermarkets and off-licences and consumed at home) overtook "on-trade" sales (in pubs, bars and restaurants) in 2014. In 2000, on-trade sales were more than double off-trade ones.

    How can this drought be halted and reversed? 

    Check with American Bars tomorrow to discover more!

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Lights Out for Brit Nightclubs?

Those oh-so efficient British…they manage to take the fun out of everything by attempting to measure it logically. They actually have an official bureaucracy for it: the Office for National Statistics' (ONS). This government watchdog is an odd basket of goods and services. The whole thing is updated annually and used to calculate inflation and also reflects England’s changing tastes.

Among the vital information it painstakingly monitored in the past: In the 1970s it tracked the popularity of polyester trousers and practical things like burning coal for domestic use. In recent years the ONS has kept tabs on frozen pizza and white emulsion…things all the world depends upon. 

This week it was the turn of nightclub entry fees. Shocking news! The nightclub has fallen out of fashion so much that it is no longer viewed as statistically significant by the Office for National Statistics. "With the number of nightclubs charging entry declining," explains ONS statistician Phil Gooding, "we can no longer justify keeping these fees in the basket.” Essentially, Official British-dom is declaring that nightclubs are so passe that they are no longer bothering to even try to relate to them. Off they go into the ether, to be discarded with the Dodo bird and 8 track tapes. 

A decade ago there was a rousing 3,144 night clubs across the country, according to the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR). Last year, there were just 1,733. (American Bars thinks part of the problem is that the Brit government manages to find a way to regulate, tax and license most everything in the country. And then they monitor it to death. )

The long list of press articles reporting the demise of nightclubs in cities across the country reads like a continuous body count, each one a casualty of changing society. Not even Austin Powers can bring them back…if anyone still remembers Austin Powers. 

Horrors! The British culture may never recover from the ever-decreasing pool of venues to go to party. Left behind is a graveyard of empty shells and dulled disco balls in a growing expanse of  abandoned nightspots. The official government reason for this is shocking indeed.

According to officialdom, the typical patrons of nightclubs - the young - have sworn off alcohol. (Yes, this is another sign of the End of the World as We Know It) One in five 16-to-24-year-olds do not drink, according to the ONS, and this has increased by nearly half between 2005 and 2013. (Yes, clever American Bars readers immediately noticed that over half of that group would not even be legal drinkers in the U.S. — and most of that same group usually has no money for things like drinking and partying.) 

Those who do drink increasingly choose to do so away from nightclubs. Successive generations have lopped off the final step of the traditional "pre-drinks at home, drinks in a bar or pub, then club" night out. Many drinkers now stay at home until late in the evening, then visit a late-opening pub or bar, then go back home.

According to the British Beer and Pub Association, Britons drink more than a quarter less beer now than at the turn of the millennium. And where they drink has changed. "Off-trade" sales (those bought in supermarkets and off-licences and consumed at home) overtook "on-trade" sales (in pubs, bars and restaurants) in 2014. In 2000, on-trade sales were more than double off-trade ones.

How can this drought be halted and reversed? 

Check with American Bars tomorrow to discover more!

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