A shift in drinking culture coupled with the cost of living crisis has seen the collapse of hundreds of nightclubs and pubs in the UK. Does this signal the beginning of the end for a boozy night out?
For decades, drinking has been an undeniable part of British culture, and we have built a global reputation for our wild nights and drunken behaviour. Whether that's the down the local pub in a rural village, or destroying what was probably a nice Spanish town before the Brits got there - that's just what we do.
But not anymore it seems, as the nightlife scenes across the UK continue to disappear, with experts saying we are losing one club every two days at the moment. At this rate, there will be no clubs left by 2030.
The latest generation appears to be the most sober generation yet, with a YouGov study finding that 39% of 18-24 year olds don't drink alcohol at all, a figure that continues to rise year on year.
Why is this happening?
It's easy to speculate on some of the reasons why people are choosing to go out less and consume less alcohol. One of the factors that springs to mind is the pandemic, where the latest generation of able-drinkers were locked inside for some formative years where they might have been partying instead, or have even developed some forms of social anxiety as a result of the lockdown.
Another factor is undoubtedly the obscene cost of a night out. Drinks have become far too expensive, particularly in night clubs. A shot will often set you back £3-4, with a double shot being, well, double that. Not to mention the entry fee that most clubs now charge, often around a tenner. Add in the cost of pre-drinking, taxis, food on the way home and I suppose most people also tend to need a vape in their hand, clubbing suddenly becomes a very costly activity.
The question people are then asking themselves is: was it all really worth it? Checking their bank account the following morning with nausea and a terrible headache means people NEED to have enjoyed themselves. The problem for nightclub owners is, people aren't enjoying it enough anymore and would much rather spend their hard earned money elsewhere.
People go to a nightclub to dance, at least that's how it always used to be. In the peak of the nightlife culture in the 2000's you had the 00's alt-rock, mixed in with a bit of 90's Britpop and 80's synth and new wave tracks. Long story short, it was music that was made for dancing.
Today, far too much of the popular music in the charts was just not made for clubbing, but for some reason that doesn't stop a DJ from throwing it on. Drake, Dave, Central Cee and the like can be fine, just there's a time and a place and that's not on a dance floor. As Fred Again once said, 'we've lost dancing'.
There is perhaps also a greater focus on health than there was before. A shift in the attention towards people's mental health and wellbeing in the last few years has resulted in a rise in people participating in sober events such as 'Dry January' or consuming alcohol free drinks.
People are actively choosing not to drink alcohol and instead go the gym, go for a run and then maybe for out for a dinner or a trip to the cinema. Does that make people boring? Maybe. Do they care? Probably not.
Clubbing isn't completely dead
Not yet at least. There are still plenty of lively nights out in the big cities. From my own experience in Cardiff, a Wednesday night is still the biggest night of the week with thousands running to the Student Union at 8pm to get through the doors, a scene I don't expect to change too much in the future because critically, the students keep going back.
And nightlife certainly isn't dying in Magaluf, Ibiza or Zante.
There will always be clubs. We won't be living in a world without a sweaty chamber of young adults bumping into each other just yet, but unless there is another major cultural shift in the upcoming generation, the clubbing scene will be a fraction of what it used to be twenty years ago.
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