Hard-up students cutting back on midweek nights out have left town centres empty and bars and clubs struggling to stay afloat, the boss of the UK’s biggest nightclub chain has said.
Peter Marks, the chief executive of Rekom, which owns the Pryzm and Atik chains, said high rents and all round increases in the cost of living mean many young people are either coming out later in the evening or not at all. He blamed the financial squeeze on students for the company’s decision to shut nearly half of its 35 venues and let go of 500 staff in cities and towns including Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Windsor and Wrexham last month.
“The cost of living is singularly the biggest issue that we face. A lot of students who used to be paying, say, £800 a month for their accommodation, have been facing [higher rents of] £1,200 a month,” he told the BBC.
“Obviously people still like coming out, [but] if money is tight [they] are coming later, so they’re arriving in our doors later and they’re spending less,” he added.
Marks said the student cost of living crisis had hollowed out weekday nightlife in cities such as Leeds, which he visited last month. “I walked around between 7pm and 11pm, and there were no more than 200 people out in the city. Two years before, it would have been really quite busy and buzzing.”
But Rekom is not alone. Nearly 400 clubs have been forced to permanently shut their doors since the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, according to figures compiled by the Night Time Industries Association, which represents the sector.
While some experts say students are generally drinking less for a variety of reasons including looking after their mental health, Marks suggested the evidence was not clear cut. “It’s quite interesting because there’s a lot of conflicting research on going out and drinking. So our view is ‘let’s just keep putting on a good night and people will come’. But if they have no money they can’t.”
Marks said the situation was making it harder to cover rising business costs including staff wages and rent for venues. “We’ve been facing some very high cost increases,” he said. “Our wage percentage of turnover is as high as anything. For every £100 we take, we are spending between £30 and £40 on wages. Whereas retailers are only paying £12 in the £100.”
Cost pressures have also taken their toll on UK pubs. There were 509 closures in 2023 and a 6% decline in the past six years, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. Some that have remained open have reduced their opening hours or not opened every day to try to make up for energy costs and inflation.
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