Claim WG ‘had no evidence to close nightclubs’ in pandemic

THE boss of the UK’S night time industries has accused the Welsh Government of having no evidence to close nightclubs during the pandemic.

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, says there was no reason to justify the closure in Wales.

Welsh nightclubs were allowed to re-open at the end of January after restrictions brought in to tackle the Omicron variant were scrapped. Nightclubs were the only businesses closed outright by the Welsh government in response to the Omicron wave, with the venues forced to close after Christmas. They were allowed to remain open in England.

Michael Kill said his association now has the results of a Freedom of Information request, and it has shown no evidence for the closure.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales on Thursday, he said: “We tried to generate questions around exactly the reasoning, and particularly evidence that was presented to allow them to close down nightclubs.

“The response was, as expected, it was not possible to establish exactly where someone caught coronavirus, therefore it is not possible to provide the number of cases that were caught in specific venues. So, Welsh Government does not hold that information. As far as we are concerned, it’s very clear that the evidence wasn’t present for them to make that decision. There were no other venues or the hospitality settings which were any different to nightclubs, given the evidence that was presented or was on hand to Welsh Government.”

Mr Kill said that businesses in the sector had been “hugely frustrated” that they were forced to close and that they had “lobbied very hard” to find out what evidence was available.

“The FOI (Freedom of Information) request has presented exactly what we expected and our concern that it was based on anecdotal evidence. This was a policy decision which isolated nightclubs or late nights economy businesses, when we were very, very clear that we felt that there was no difference across many, many settings and it had a huge impact on businesses across Wales.”

He said across the UK, over a third of nightclubs had had to close, saying: “I have stories of people who’ve lost their houses. Their life’s work. So these are big decisions for people. So as you can appreciate that they’re going to be angry and frustrated at the fact that there was no evidence presented and these businesses have been closed for such a long period of time.” Mr Kill also called for a Wales specific coronavirus inquiry, and called for any decisions made in the future to be evidence-based.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “There is no doubt at all. Across the world, those sorts of venues have been associated with super spreader events. The evidence from the Sage committee said the transmission of the virus was strongly associated with the proximity and duration of contacts in indoor environments especially where it is the nature of the business that people are close up and personal. I don’t think there is any doubt at all that those were high risk venues, and at the height of the pandemic they were closed, not just in Wales, but in others parts of the UK and others parts of the world as well.”