Is this the end of the big night out?

Big nights out may soon be a thing of the past as growing numbers of nightclubs and bars close their doors for good.

Boozy evenings on the town have long been an "undeniable part of British culture", said Sky News. But cultural and economic changes could see them "consigned to the memories of those of us born before the turn of the century".

'Most sober generation yet'

According to the Night Time Industries Association, the UK is losing one club every two days – at which rate there will be none left by 2030. And latest data shows that more than two pubs a day closed in the first six months of 2023, a total of 383, which is just three fewer than the total for all of 2022. 

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Britain's live music scene is in "crisis" too, said The Guardian's music critic Dave Simpson. A total of 125 UK venues "abandoned" live music last year, with "more than half of them closing for good".

Changing lifestyle habits of young people are a key reason why "messy nights out on the town" are "on the brink of extinction", said Dazed. The young are increasingly "ditching drinking" and turning to "more cost-effective recreational habits" such as videogames and psychedelics.

Sacha Lord, night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, told Sky News that before the pandemic, students often went clubbing midweek.  But now, they're having house parties instead, he said, and "it's mainly down to the cost of living".

Another factor is that Generation Z "appears to be our most sober one yet", said the news site. A recent survey by YouGov and the Portland Group  alcohol watchdog found that 39% of 18- to 24-year-olds don't drink alcohol at all.  

A further problem facing pubs and clubs is licensing, wrote Henry Hill, deputy editor of ConservativeHome, for The Spectator. In London, "it is all but impossible for prospective businesses to get the necessary permissions from local authorities, whose councillors answer only to a truculent minority of local residents". The resulting decline means that "spontaneous" nights out, "rolling from bar to bar as the flow takes you", are also now "all but impossible".

'Don't mourn – rave!'

If we care about "resisting the blandifying effects" of "gentrification" and "rentier capitalism" on our cities and towns, said Dan Hancox in The Guardian, we have to "do our bit too". Or "in other words: don't mourn, rave!"

The night-life industry can also take action to lure back punters. Alcohol-free cocktail bars are reporting "huge success", said Sky News, and low- and no-alcohol products are now the "fastest growing part" of the drinks industry. Experts are also advising pubs to offer more event-based nights, such as darts or quizzes, to "get people back in the door".

Laura Willoughby, founder of  mindful drinking brand Club Soda, told the site that Gen Z is much more experience-led in their social lives. "It's not based around the strength of the drink in their glass and more about lovely evenings out," she said.