Why are young people going out less? New NTIA study shows them being “priced out of nightlife”

nme.com:

view in full here – come just months after the NTIA warned that UK clubbing could be “extinct” by the end of the decade. In October last year, stats revealed that 37 per cent of all clubs across the country had permanently shut since March 2020 – an average of three clubs a week and 150 per year.

If the trend continues, all spaces in the UK will have closed their doors by December 31, 2029.The following month, NME reported on how the touring circuit across the UK was facing “complete collapse” without urgent help, and highlighted what would need to be done for things to change.

Looking at findings from Music Venue Trust, it was confirmed that £7million in new premises taxes will see over 350 grassroots music venues at immediate risk of closure – threatening over 12,000 jobs, £250million in economic activity and the loss of over 75,000 live music events.Amid the startling figures, MVT called on music fans to urgently write to their MP here to stop the rise in Business Rates.Going into the start of the new year, NME also explored how the government backing a levy on tickets for gigs at arena level and above could lead to 2025 being the year where real change is seen across the grassroots music sphere.This is both due to a deadline for the ticket levy being set for March, before the government steps back in to consider making it mandatory by law, and the new Labour government also promising a price cap on touted tickets.