‘Nobody’s going out!’ Why is Britain’s nightlife in such decline – and can anything save it? | Clubbing | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/why-is-britains-nightlife-in-decline
Posted by prisongovernor
‘Nobody’s going out!’ Why is Britain’s nightlife in such decline – and can anything save it? | Clubbing | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/why-is-britains-nightlife-in-decline
Posted by prisongovernor
41 Comments
It costs a bloody fortune… thats why! (didnt read the article, im just naturally judgy)
Well when clubs are wanting a tenner for a double JD and coke it’s hardly surprising, not to mention the entrance fee.
I’ve never been a huge clubbing person but even when I was at uni about a decade ago, we would prelash to avoid the daft nightclub prices. Drug prices have gone up as well which hasn’t helped. If I want loud bass and dancing, I’m more likely to go to a house party or a rave.
I’m more of a pub goer myself, which I’m partial to still. Get a decent conversation or a pub quiz out of it though.
Unless you’re on the pull or going to a themed night where you know the music isn’t terrible,.clubbing is boring as fuck.
At least in the 90s there was this undercurrent of eurphoric futuristic optimistism in the dance music scene. What is there to be optimistic about and revel about these days.
Too expensive, lack of police presence makes it feel ropey as fuck — at least in Nottingham.
I went out for a night out with my sister when I last visited home earlier this year. Nottingham city centre at night just felt fucking dicey and not a rozzer to be seen. Just obvious wrong ‘uns walking around
Plenty of folk that continue to go out, doesn’t make for a headline though does it… unless they commit a crime, which of course is only the 1% of the 1% so it makes more sense to keep spouting this nonsense because it’ll continue to get clicks and idiots like me biting
It’s laughable anyone thinks ppl have enough disposable income these days to wax on a night
Hell, I couldn’t even afford a 2000s night out never mind what it costs now!
Small and medium venues closing, because of council rates / owners selling to convert to flats etc is a HUGE issue. It’s harder than ever to find a suitable venue now.
I know from experience that putting on an event is both expensive and risky. Not to mention the massive time input. Many new events are lucky to break even. This isn’t even touching on the whole ‘everyone is skint as fuck’ issue. I’m an audio engineer, paying someone to write music for you is a luxury. It’s always obvious to me when society in general is struggling, because business starts to drop off.
2008 was particularly rough / noticeable. IMO we’ve never truly recovered from that event.
It’s expensive, people are pooper, people socialise online, the dating world used to evolve around getting drunk and building up the courage to flirt.
Now online dating is the norm.
I wonder why in a country with stagnant wages, cost of living crisis, low quality of venues and people being more health conscious I can’t imagine why people dont go out anymore
I’m the same age as the couple in the article, 58.,
Would be in a pub. club or going to a gig 3 or 4 times a week, with my then fiancée in the late 80s.
Whilst we were buying a house, on a local authority combined Band 4 and band 2 wage in the South east of England.
So income and having enough disposable is a factor. a massive factor, humungous.
However, there’s a reason we went out too, 4 channels on the TV that stopped around midnight, no internet, no gaming, no streaming. If you wanted to see a movie, within 2 years of it’s release it was a trip to the cinema. Takeaways were actually takeaways for the most part, delivery the odd Chinese or pizza aside didn’t exist.
I think even if people did have the money. especially people under 30, we would still be witnessing a decline in nightlife due to the fact that staying at home, doesn’t mean sitting in front of the TV deciding which one of the 4 bland choices on TV at any given time, were, we could endure watching.
Pretty much every Wetherspoons in the country is packed every minute it’s open. It’s not a demand problem.
as someone who went to uni recently, there are a few reasons:
1. it’s expensive
2. people film everything. the internet rarely forgets, do you want to be filmed throwing up outside or otherwise looking like a complete idiot? probably not!
3. councils are actively hostile to venues. restrictions on how long places can open or what they can do really reduce the appeal, and they’re widespread across the UK now. a club near me had an amazing outdoor / smoking area with its own bar, and they’re not allowed to open it for many hours because it’s *slightly near a secondary school*
4. lean up crews are becoming more common, really doesn’t help too. for those who don’t know: [https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/15/clean-up-crews-targeting-vulnerable-university-students-dark-24690674/](https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/15/clean-up-crews-targeting-vulnerable-university-students-dark-24690674/) . it’s a definite and real fear for many of my friends, they just will drink and have fun at home instead b/c of it.
5. spiking
As someone of a younger generation; it’s just not our thing.
It’s expensive, haven’t got a job because they’re impossible to get, it’s loud, kinda boring and usually disappointing.
Times change. What was popular 26 years ago is no longer as popular.
In hindsight, nights out were a bit shit.
And now they’re multiple times the amount they were just 10 or 15 years ago, online dating makes up for the fact it used to be a front for icebreaking for dating, and your cringe drunken antics can be readily recorded and reposted…
Yeah. I can see why current people in their 20s can’t be arsed.
I went to a rave in my home city a couple of years ago as a 30 year old and it was depressing. None of the younger people were dancing, just filming on their phones. I felt like an idiot dancing. It’s such a different atmosphere now compared to when I was 18 at similar events.
When a pint costs so much and people are more educated on physical health is it any surprise it’s being squeezed at both ends?
Clubbings always been expensive but when you look at what you spend before the club as in beers in bars and pubs thats as bad now. Pubs are now quieter on a weekend and virtually dead midweek. When it costs £25 for a few midweek drinks and about £100 for a good night out you gotta ask if you could spend that money in a better way
Meanwhile the over 30’s 5.00 – 9.00pm events are packed out with every club in the city getting in on it.
Nobody wants to be standing around at 1.00am in horizontal sleet waiting for a taxi, which are rare as hen’s teeth when you actually need them.
Endless think pieces about cultural changes etc etc. Its the PRICE. End of.
The rent is too damn high, wages are too damn low, the tax brackets are too damn low. Billionaires took all the money and now everyone is in debt and depressed af.
Its just not worth it. Costs too much, plus I just dont have the energy for it now Im almost in my mid 30s. Its not healthy gettin smashed every weekend, like I used to.
Much rather buy a bottle of whatever and gather at a friends house, every few months, while playing our music in the background.
“I just don’t understand… we priced young people out of almost everything… degraded the quality… then raised prices even further… and now they’re not spending money doing all the things they used to. How ever did this happen?”
I would love to go clubbing more but I don’t have the time or the energy or the money. Plus honestly, a big reason why I went out was to try and pull girls. That isn’t really needed nowadays in the age of dating apps and social media.
Clubbing, drinking and socialising doesn’t and hasn’t ever interested me, not so much the case its unaffordable
It costs £9 for a single drink in a loud sweaty venue where your chance of being assaulted are high.
Security don’t care, the bar staff don’t care, it’s cheaper and safer to stay at home.
Supermarkets should pay a higher rate on alcohol and pubs/clubs get a lower rate. Food should not be taxed to help businesses out, get people out socialising again.
Fast food should still be taxed, take aways etc, but sit down meals should be cheaper. I know this could be abused and there will be places that will just put sit down meals through as take aways, but it will be a start.
i went out on Friday night for the first time since last summer, £6.75 for a pint of Moretti, £14 per round with my and missus. spent a fortune in the pub and reminded myself why i never go out anymore. nobody is affording that anymore.
Paid £14.90 for a double rum and coke the other day. The bottle of rum in tesco costs £18.
Drank 3 in just over an hour, so almost £45 for less than £4 worth of rum and £2 worth of coke
Why bother with the queues, the crap mixes in a tiny glass, when i can free pour whenever i want and save a fortune at home
Every other news article is about a rape or stabbing, which also adds to people choosing to stay at home.
I quit drinking over 10 years ago now but I’d still by my round for people when I went out, couldn’t believe the price increase on a pint from when I last drank in 2015 in comparison to what people pay now. Wages have stagnated and alcohol prices have increased, no one can afford regular nights out. Plus the people who seemingly just to out to cause trouble don’t help the situation
Its cheaper to buy a gram of cocain than it is to drink out now
It costs a fortune and it’s full of predators who clearly think the price is worth paying.
Friday nights- office workers are at home.
Other nights – cost of night out / transport / people no longer drinking as much.
I live in a student and the clubs always seem to be full of students. But funnily that puts off anybody over the age of 25 because we don’t want to be surrounded by 18 year olds.
That, paired with the price of a drink in a bar or club now makes it difficult to ever convince a group of friends to go out.
Nobody goes out expecting to meet someone new anymore, because it’s often seen as bad to make advances at someone you don’t know and we have the internet for meeting new people now.
A lot of people are highly concerned that they’ll be filmed while drunk and the video will come back to bite them.
Older people seem to love bottomless brunch instead, which seems to work out for the bars since they can make the most of the daytime as well as the evening.
Maybe it’s like going back to 1965 and lamenting the fact that nobody’s listening to skiffle any more. Tastes change. Clubbing as we know it had a good innings, but kids don’t want to do what their parents did.
Because I’m not spending 9 quid on a pint served in a plastic cup surrounded by music I don’t like and too many people for my tastes
Cuz it’s dear as fack! Went out at Xmas and paid £8 for a pint! EIGHT. POUND!!
It will probably take some tech-bro coming up with a “clubbing as a service” app where a digital dj takes requests by app and everyone brings their own headphones for a “silent disco”… Drinks are paid for using an in app payment system (with a service fee of course), and your phone vibrates when the person dancing next to you has preselected you for slow dances on their digital dance card, or is willing to if you subscribe to their premium dance card.
I got stuck last week cuz it took almost an hour to find a ride home after a busy night. The club is almost always shit, you can’t actually talk to your friends cuz it’s loud and packed, you have to drink to find it remotely enjoyable (which is bad for you), you stay out late (also bad for you) it’s not hygienic or even safe, and that’s before the fact you realise its incredibly pricey.
Like… once you’re out of uni and aren’t seeing your friends there weekly, there is 0 merit or advantage to going
Because everybody is poor – read the room. If a night out costs more than the weekly shop…. I’ll be eating thanks
Bloody hell. Even going for a little stint in a boozer is a wallet wallop.