1 in 5 nightclubs have faced the last dance after pandemic

ONE in five nightclubs has closed in the past three years after the sector was badly hit during the pandemic.

The Government has been urged to intervene ‘before it’s too late’ as figures show there are only 1,130 venues left across England, Scotland and Wales.

There were 1,446 nightclubs in Britain in December 2019 and 1,924 in December 2014, according to data shared by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).

Clubs were forced to shut completely for well over a year because they could not open safely as the airborne coronavirus took hold. In England, they reopened only in July last year and the following month in Scotland and Wales. Those two nations closed them again briefly in response to the Omicron wave last winter.

NTIA chief executive Michael Kill said: ‘The Government needs to recognise the economic, cultural, and community value of clubs and the wider night-time economy.’ The Treasury said it had provided a £400billion Covid support package to the hospitality sector.