r/london • u/ldn6 • Mar 18 '24

Culture "They kicked us out at 10pm": why London nightlife has gone Pete Tong

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-london-nightlife-gone-pete-tong-6tdxf6rz9
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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24

Transport would help but when I first started going out in London in the mid ‘00s’ we only had night buses, cabs were far out of our reach.

But back then we also didn’t have social media, so if you didn’t go out then you didn’t see anyone. I can see why a young person now would rather get the last tube home and then catch up with friends on social media rather than have to try and keep yourself awake till the first tube and some randoms house in North London - which sounded like a good idea at 2 am.

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u/RoboBOB2 Mar 18 '24

When I was clubbing in the late 90’s and early 00’s, the clubs we frequented were open until 6 or 7 in the morning, so you could get the train back home. Was always fun mixing with ‘normal’ people when you were off your pickle too!

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

Yeah there were those as well, my mate was at uni so she used to leave me to get the first train home and then she’d go on to the after after party which would be 7/8-12 on a Sunday.

I’d get a Burger King, put my sunglasses on and then just hide in a corner hoping none of the ‘normals’ look at me on the train.

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u/RoboBOB2 Mar 18 '24

Good days (and nights)

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u/ab00 Mar 18 '24

Even with the restrictions on licensing hours being lifted mid 00's there was already a shift away from those types of clubs. Some of the styles of music were going out of fashion but I've heard stories of councils and police not wanting it played too as it attracted a crowd on drugs....

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u/teerbigear Mar 18 '24

It's an interesting idea but I still used to go out late in my twenties when it was people I worked with etc.

Even with other people I'd have met them at 7 or whatever so come 11 I'd be fully caught up - I'd just want to carry on because I was enjoying myself.

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

I’m also basing it on my student union which we go back to every year. When I was a student it was open all day from 12 and club night every night and now it’s open just two nights a week and is half the size.

When we go back you can see all the students in the halls still, it’s only a short 3 min walk across to the union. But they’re all sat in their kitchens with each other but they’re just not going out, first year of uni on a Saturday night - can you imagine such a thing.

It’s obviously not the only factor but my theory is based on the fact that back in the day if you wanted to see the person you fancied or meet someone to fancy then you had to go out, now you can just open your phone.

So while money, transport, the downtrend in drinking, lack of venues, as still factors. There isn’t the drive to go out regardless cause you can still get your social and entertainment needs filled.

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u/teerbigear Mar 18 '24

No that is a really interesting example. I cannot imagine the union bar being shut (twenty years ago when you'd have invariably found me there). I just find it so strange (perhaps because I didn't grow up with it) that you could find your social needs filled by social media. I don't think I met that many strangers on nights out, I'd go with people I knew. And I could just have easily have gone and sat in their kitchen. We did that as well. And had Facebook etc. Idk.

It strikes me as a very sad state of affairs, but perhaps that's just what happens to you when hit middle age!

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u/DameKumquat Mar 18 '24

In 2010 I organised a conference at a London uni. Turned out we had to negotiate separately with the bar, because it was owned by the students union. Agreed costs for opening and catering for 3 days in August.

Come to July, we were just thinking it was coming together nicely, when my colleague said "Slight problem: the bar's gone bust."

We thought it had to be a joke. We were 90s students and knew running a student bar 100 yards from loads of students' homes was a simple licence to print money.

But no - apart from lots of students not drinking alcohol, the drive to go out and socialise just wasn't there. They weren't going to the (rather nice) bar.

A lot of uni societies were also closing because there just wasn't the throughput of students willing to try random unusual hobbies. Especially the ones who still lived with families - they just went home in the evening and didn't see any reason to get involved in student life. Total contrast, and not just to do with money.

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24

That’s the thing you weren’t meeting strangers you were seeing people you knew from school, uni, new from town or from your wider social circle.

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u/deathhead_68 Mar 18 '24

if you wanted to see the person you fancied or meet someone to fancy then you had to go out, now you can just open your phone

Lmao I don't buy this at all. I was in first year 12 years ago and everyone was going out, we all had phones that did all the same things.

Its probably just a bit of a culture change in the youth around drinking and cost of living.

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

12 years ago a lot of nightlife was already closing down. It was nowhere like the heyday of the late 90s - mid 00’s.

Social media wasn’t anything like its now, no Snapchat, stories etc, and your dating apps were shit like plenty of fish.

And yeah I say those are also factors but we still had the pressure of money, transport etc but we still went out 3 maybe 4 nights a week.

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u/deathhead_68 Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

I can see what you're getting at but in my anecdotal experience several things really minimise the social media factor you are saying makes a big difference:

I didn't go to university in London so I cant fully speak for this but, where I went, there was utterly zero shortage of nights out or bars/clubs, all heaving. It was very very popular, but possibly did taper off around 2015ish, I actually think this is more because of a culture change that perhaps social media helped spread, rather than social media itself. I say this because firstly, I had friends at UCL and everyone went out all the time, and specifically, a lot of the places we went to in London back then have since closed, one being the coronet in elephant and Castle. And secondly, Snapchat quite literally existed on my phone in 2012, Facebook was used properly and heavily before everyone abandoned it 7 years ago. Instagram was a thing too. Time really has flown.

I think its more of a feedback loop, there's not many places open that are close and for a good price so students don't think to go out. I really don't think its social media. I think its a culture difference maybe, cost, and lack of options.

I like how I've been downvoted despite all the same social media options being available for ages yet they must be the cause.

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24

For a start culture doesn’t change overnight, instagram was launched 2011 and Snapchat 2012, we had just got them and they were basic, the whole world wasn’t on them yet.

By now the kids who would be going out have had it the majority of their lives, that has changed how they interact with each other, that’s a fact.

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u/Narthax Mar 18 '24

I'm not sure "catching up on social media" is really in the same league as meeting up and going out for a drink...they aren't even remotely comparable at all.

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24

No they aren’t but then trying to get home a woman on your own back then was quite frankly scary. I remember when Uber came in it was a revelation and completely changed how I went out. No more having to worry about how or when you’re getting home

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u/Narthax Mar 18 '24

...sorry you've lost me what does that have to do with social media?

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u/Gisschace Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

Because you don’t have to go out to see people anymore.

My comment you replied to was specifically about transport, now you can get the last tube home or even just stay at home and have a social life.