10 ways the Night Czar can improve London clubbing

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is looking for the city's first Night Czar.

Similar to Amsterdam's Night Mayor, this figure will work to ensure that the capital's night-time economy and culture is fairly represented at government level. This is exactly what the city needs and will serve to bolster its club scene, which Sadiq himself has called "iconic".

A lot of London venues have closed recently but its clubbing landscape will remain strong and adapt to whatever adversity is thrown its way. The Night Czar will help it grow and prosper and there's no doubt that the city will keep on dancing well into the future.

Here are 10 things the Night Czar could do to ensure London remains one of the best dance music destinations in the world.

According to a report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research and London First, ‘entertainment and recreation’ contributes £1.3bn to London’s night-time economy. That means all your favourite bars and clubs are generating a big chunk of money and a whole lot of jobs for the city and need to be treated with respect. A Night Czar would help legitimise the importance of the night-time economy and champion it as a positive contribution to London life.

Similarly, the Night Czar would be a bastion for the culture that thrives within that economy and would stand up for the London-based artists whose work is truly priceless. The city has given birth to some of the most famous producers, DJs, record labels, venues and genres in the world and it needs to be able to continue to do so.

It’s clear that there’s a disconnect between London clubland and the legislators who oversee it. We get the feeling that local councils don’t really get the importance of the city’s night-time economy and culture, especially when it comes to clubs and dance music. They either don’t understand or choose not to, meaning a Night Czar will be a much needed representative and mediator.

Could the Night Czar have helped avoid the kind of bureaucratic wrangling and “dirty tactics” that reportedly forced Shapes to shut, for example? Talking about the closure to Time Out, owner Seb Glover said: “Essentially the council didn’t want a music venue in Hackney Wick. They’re trying to make it into another Islington. It’s going to be a sterilised area where there’s no raw creative community. The artists are moving – they’re being priced out, buildings are getting knocked down all the time. This makes running a music venue impossible.” A Night Czar could stand up for the venues and artists who make areas like Hackney Wick so desirable to developers, meaning the artistic community isn’t disrupted when the new builds go up.

One of the most limiting and damaging factors to London’s nightlife is the lack of late licensing approved. Not only does this stop new venues from opening and limit grassroots activity, but it also causes social problems. Limiting the opening hours of venues leads to binge drinking and substance abuse with people rushing their intake against closing times. And kicking everyone out of a venue at the same time creates bottle necks in the streets and can cause fights. Enabling more choice of when people can arrive and leave venues can only be a good thing, and will instil a freer and more relaxed atmosphere within and outside clubs. The Night Czar would have a legitimised position from which they can lobby council licensing chambers to be more open with their licensing, which is essential for London’s club scene to thrive. 24-hour licensing is allowed in London, let’s start using it.

Often clubs will be targeted and closed down for issues caused by their attendees which are largely out of their hands. Clubs take steps to limit anti-social behaviour by employing security and bouncers. If people do fight and cause problems then that should be the responsibility of the individual and clubs should not be made to suffer. The Night Czar will have the ears of institutions of power and will hopefully be able to protect clubs by making this point loud and clear. Last year “urban and house events” were banned from taking place at The Coronet in Elephant & Castle due to violence breaking out in the streets around the venue following a House Of Silk night. While speaking to Alan Miller, chairman of the NTIA, recently he made the point to us that an event like Ascot isn’t blamed or shut down when attendees have one too many glasses and Dom Pérignon and get into a drunken brawl, which has happened on multiple occasions. It’s time that clubs are afforded the same leniency.

Before he was elected, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan promised to fast track the opening of the Night Tube and install a Night Czar. So far, so good. He also vowed to implement the ‘Agent for Change’ rule, which means new developments next to established venues need to meet soundproofing costs. This is something that could help spaces like The Yard, which is being forced to move because of a housing development nearby. It’s also what caused a lengthy battle between Ministry of Sound and a developer whose project threatened the future of the club. Surely a Night Czar would help implement this rule, or at least enforce it, and serve to further protect the clubs that make London great.

People take drugs. It happens. The government’s complete refusal to acknowledge this in a manner other than prosecution is harmful to fixing the problems drugs cause and is putting British citizens in danger. For example, Amsterdam launched a campaign earlier this year warning tourists against buying drugs from street dealers who may be selling contaminated product, and if known dangerous pills or powders come into circulation they display warnings across the city on street signs which stops them from being bought. This progressive policy doesn’t ignore the fact drugs are illegal, but it factors harm reduction into the equation and protects citizens. The tragic loss of life that occurs when people take dodgy pills could be avoided if warnings are put in place. The Night Czar can help work towards sensible drug policy that will recognise that accepting drugs exist and will be taken is not condoning the illegal activity, and in doing so save lives in clubland.

Towards the end of 2014 and in early 2015 London clubs such as fabric were threatened with being forced to implement draconian security measures such as breathalysers, ID scanning and sniffer dogs at entry. An appeal against these regulations was won and they didn’t come into place, but the spectre is still looming grimly over London clubland. The appeal proved direct action works, and the Night Czar is someone who can spearhead these campaigns in defence of clubland.

While on the surface these measures may seem like positive steps to improve safety, they’re indicative of a mentality that is dangerous to London’s nightlife. They immediately treat clubbers like criminals before they’ve committed any crime, and are complicit in the idea that London nightlife is some scandalous, problematic aspect of the city that we should be wary of. They are also too severe. Realistically, consuming three pints of lager before entering a club is not going to be an issue for most London residents. Refusing someone entry on grounds of being breathalysed to this level of intoxication is totally unnecessary. Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy going out in London every weekend and an entire culture should not be tarnished by the actions of a very small minority.

Gentrification is quite possibly the topic of 88.8 per cent of conversations Londoners have between themselves. It drives rent price up, whitewashes local culture and, sadly, rings the death knell for nightclubs. King's Cross used to be a clubbing mecca but now it’s more renowned for streetfood festivals. Elephant and Castle faces the same fate, with Coronet closing at the end of this year and Corsica Studios now under the shadow of a gleaming new block of flats. It’s why the council in Dalston don’t dish out late licenses to new venues, preferring to keep the area quiet for residents of new builds with a starting price of £500,000. And it’s happening rapidly in Hackney Wick, with its proximity to Stratford and the Olympic Stadium (now home to West Ham United F.C). Artists and musicians put all of these areas on the map and will continue to do so in areas of London that haven’t been ‘discovered’ yet. A Night Czar could work to ‘ringfence’ these hotspots in order to allow them to continue nurturing arts and culture that’s active in the day and night.

Another lesson we can learn from Amsterdam is copying the security “Hosts” that have been introduced by the Dutch capital’s own Night Mayor into the city’s nightlife hub Rembrandtplein that is filled with late-night drinking spots. These are officials that keep a friendly check on the behaviour of people and encourage them to respect the rules of the streets. They’re also there to offer a helping hand to people who feel sick, or need directions and help getting home. As is the case with the city’s contaminated drug warnings, they aim to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations rather than prosecute people. They’re not invasive, accusatory or intimidating, and their presence has been proven to have a calming effect on an area that was often the scene of unruly behaviour. If the Night Czar could introduce similar officials into areas like Dalston or Hackney Wick, this could benefit London by reducing the issues that can occur at night time such as too much noise or violence. This will keep local residents happy and take the heat off clubs that are accused of facilitating these issues, in turn improving the reputation of clubland.

Amsterdam, Paris, Toulouse and Zurich all have a Night Mayor and this year the ‘Dam hosted the first every Night Mayors’ Summit. If a London representative were part of that, our city could stand to learn valuable lessons from the European community, who always seem one step ahead when in comes to the night.

Seb Wheeler and Patrick Hinton just want London to be as glorious as possible

Eliot Wyatt is a freelance illustrator based in Bristol. Visit his website