‘There’s just not that much on offer in Cambridge,” says Ella Stranger, 22. “We’ll either just go to the pub, or go out in London, or honestly, not do anything at all.” Ella, who moved to Cambridge to study in 2020, says there has been “a real lack of spontaneity” to nightlife in the city since the Covid pandemic restrictions were lifted in 2021.
“The main big venue is Cambridge Junction, with regional or UK DJs or acts, and tickets would be £20 to £30. So not really the type of thing that you would go to weekly,” she says.
Since she graduated in 2023, Ella has found that nights out with her friends “take a lot more planning and coordination. Partly I think it’s because of Covid: some venues never reopened. And partly because of the costs. And if you can see there aren’t a lot of tickets sold, you won’t go in the first place – if you worry that a night is going to be dead, you’re not going to buy a ticket in advance.”
One in four late-night venues across the UK have closed since 2020 – almost 800 in total – with closures accelerating this year. Three venues have shut each week on a net basis over the past three months, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). The NTIA has warned of a potential for “night-time deserts” if there are not urgent tax cuts for nightclubs and music venues.
Nick, 51, an electronic musician from Oxford, says the live music scene has noticeably changed in the city over the 13 years he has lived there. “In central Oxford, we now have almost no music venues,” he says. “I’m having to look for gigs in London.” In recent years, Oxford’s Purple Turtle nightclub, the Cellar music venue and most recently the grassroots gig venue the Wheatsheaf have all closed.
“You have to go to Jericho or down Cowley Road,” says Nick. “If bands like Radiohead, Supergrass and Foals started up now, they would have to join the queue to play, as there are more bands than venues can handle. The more popular local acts get the first choice of gigs, while many artists have to be more creative and either put gigs on themselves, or use other spaces such as the Modern Art museum or the Old Fire Station.”
It’s a similar story in bigger cities such as Birmingham. David Garside, 51, a musician, recalls a livelier scene in decades past. “The Old Railway in Digbeth was an old-fashioned pub with live music pretty much every night. That was knocked down to make way for the Millennium Point.
“The Hibernian in Stirchley, where Pulp played, has been an empty shell for years. [It has since been renamed and turned into a restaurant.] South of the city, Moseley was always swarming with musicians. But pretty much all of its live music bedrock has vanished. The Jug of Ale – a touring venue – was demolished. There are a few open mic nights in some of the bars. Not very inspiring.”
In Redhill, Surrey, there are no established late-night music venues at all. It’s something Steve Trigg, 63, wants to remedy. “Since I’ve lived here, Redhill has never really had much in the way of venues,” he says. “We had a little nightclub, Liquid & Envy, that was open for a while. We have things like corners of pubs where people play, but generally there’s been very little music.”
Trigg is one of the co-founders of Redstart Community, a charity that for six months has run pop-up music gigs in the town’s shopping centre.
“We’ve had some rappers, and a punk night, quite a lot of indie music and an acoustic night. It has been very positive. One night we had a crowd of over 130, and we normally get in 40 to 60. It’s new to quite a lot of the people here to actually have music here, without having to go by train into London to try and see some.”
Meanwhile, London’s own late night venues have declined. “People move to London because it’s a creative cultural global city,” says Kate, 32, from Camberwell. “And then they realise they can’t cope with the noise and they complain to the council – and the council can be too quick to side with the residents. That’s what happened to the Sekforde pub in Clerkenwell, which is run by a friend of mine.
“I get that living near a venue can be noisy, but the council should have regulation that accommodates that. I feel like we’re forgetting that the positives – the people who enjoy it – outweigh the people who don’t.”
Kate grew up in south London. “As a teenager you felt like the city is yours and you can do anything you want. The older I’ve got, that feeling has gone. I’m not sure if it’s me getting older, or London getting boring. But I have a couple of friends in bands and every time they’re doing a gig, I know it’s going to be one of four places.”
