10 ways the Night Czar can improve London clubbing

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.