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Nathanael Williams was a musician and gig promoter before he became the co-owner of two of London’s most well-loved nightclubs: Colour Factory in Hackney Wick and Jumbi in Peckham. It is, he says, less glamorous than he expected. “When I first got the keys I was like: ‘This is going to be amazing, I can meet all of these artists, I’m going to be down amongst the people . . . ’ But most of the time I do what most businesses do: I look at spreadsheets.”
The joys of bookkeeping aside, late-night hospitality venues in the capital have been under increased financial strain of late. The Night Time Industries Association estimates the UK has lost a third of its clubs since 2020 — including Moko, a club in Tottenham that Williams was forced to shut last September. But today, Williams is among many in the sector who believe London’s late-night fortunes may be turning.
Last month, the Labour government announced a major review of UK licensing law and granted new powers to Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London. Khan will now be able to override local council decisions on late-night venues as part of a pilot programme. Promising to cut red tape, chancellor Rachel Reeves, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and Khan braved the harshly lit interior of a Soho club for an accompanying publicity photo.
The plan may already be having an impact. Earlier this year Westminster council decided to limit a late-night licence for the legendary New York jazz bar Blue Note. Westminster’s licensing department, advised by the Met police, restricted its closing time on the grounds that patrons exiting at 1am could be a magnet for criminals in the West End. But late last week, Blue Note won its appeal to reverse the decision, paving the way for a Covent Garden outpost. Steven Bensusan, the bar’s president, has been encouraged by the support he’s received. “Artists like the Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia and others started a new wave of jazz and jazz-related music that we want to be a part of,” he said.
While support from the mayor’s office may help lift the spirits of London’s night-time industry, the outcome of a broader licensing overhaul is still unclear. The most immediate change might be to remove licensing guidance from the purview of the Home Office — which is largely focused on public safety — to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which may be more inclined to treat nightlife as a cultural asset.
The industry also has to contend with business rates, alcohol levies and high rents. Younger people are drinking less, and daytime festivals provide tough competition for dance venues, which are closing earlier.
Khan’s ability to amend decisions by local authorities may also not be as powerful as it sounds. For one thing, councils don’t deny late-night licences all that often. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which presides over alfresco dining in Notting Hill as well as upscale clubs in Chelsea, told the FT that of the licensing applications, renewals and amendments it received in the past 12 months, 80 per cent were fully granted. Residential noise complaints and the safety-first approach of the Met police may be a more limiting factor for the industry.
Jonathan Smith, a licensing solicitor at Poppleston Allen, says that while he’s enthusiastic about the prospect of a licensing review, years of official apprehension over late-night entertainment has translated into less risk-taking from London’s bar and nightclubs. “There are certainly clients of ours who will not apply for either new applications or, in particular, later hours, because they know they will not get them.”
Despite the licensing restrictions, Londoners still want to go out. West End theatres have just had a record year. Music listening bars like All My Friends, Spiritland and Next Door Records offer a loose, living room feel for those who may not want to commit to an expensive club night. Free, public reading events like Deleted Scenes, Soho Reading Series, and New Works have created a buzz around the literary scene.
London’s pilot programme is expected to roll out in other UK cities in the near future. For now, the city is entering the warmer months with more late-night revelry to look forward to.