How popular are nightclubs these days?

Back in the 90s you could go a bar with £20 in your pocket or go clubbing, taxi and food, with £40. Can no longer afford to do that due to the price of alcohol, its become a Presbyterian wet dream.
 
nkata said:
Or mobile phones, I could disappear for days and blame no nearby working telephone kiosks
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I went working around Paris with a mate for 6 weeks when I was 17, apparently I forgot to tell anyone I was going and my mobile didn't work over there. No phone wasn't such a big deal back then :p Almost 20 years passed by in a blink.

Nightclubs were pretty awesome back then. Give me a nice pub any day though
 
Most of the pubs round my way are open until 2am so they days of "having" to go to a nighclub if you wanted a night out to last past 11pm are gone. I think that's put a lot of them out of business though I can't say I'm sorry. Most were overpriced dumps that deserved their fate!

Also, a large proportion of the 18-24 year olds I know don't actually drink these days and would rather spend their evenings going to a movie, round to their friends or stay in watching netflix and gaming! In fact the times I have gone out late on a Friday/Saturday night all the folk in pubs and clubs seem to be in their 30s/40s and 50s! The only ones younger than that are the 13-14 years hanging tough outside McDonalds!
 
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We still go to clubs but only when there's an artist/DJ we like or we're after a specific themed night.

Clubbing in general is pretty awful, I'd rather go to a 'dancy' bar. We've had a few nights where we were pre-drinking before going out and ended up having such a good time pre-drinking we knew going out would be a downgrade.

As mentioned above, mainland europe is much better for a night out. Cheap drinks, good weather, less annoying drunks, and generally nicer people. We went to Malaga early in the year and went to a bar where doubles were about €3 and they don't even bother measuring so you're getting triples or more every time.
 
Yeah drink prices are nuts. I remember one club you could get a double vodka with Smirnoff ice as the mixer for £2.50 when I was in uni. And £2/3 a pint at the union iirc. Now I can get 4 bottles of strong ale in Asda that will be enough for a night for £6.
 
Clubs are mostly dead, IMO, due to the expense and the fact you can't even talk to someone. Add to that nasty security on a power trip.

Much prefer late bars and pubs. Part of that is just getting old though...
 
From experience running nights is very difficult to turn a profit, been there done that over 25 years, it's wasn't about the money it was more about the scene of dance culture, i still know to this day successful nights barley break even due to DJ fees and running costs no matter how big or small you want to do it. the amount of planning running a club is insane.
 
Vanilla said:
Clubs are mostly dead, IMO, due to the expense and the fact you can't even talk to someone. Add to that nasty security on a power trip.

Much prefer late bars and pubs. Part of that is just getting old though...
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Security is pussycat stuff these days, in that there's no money in door supervision anymore. Maybe that means those who ARE still in the game are in it for their personality disorder.

https://www.regencysecurity.co.uk/latest-news/08/2017/40-drop-license-renewals/

40% Drop In License Renewals…
August 22, 2017 (Posted 2 years ago) • Uncategorized
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I did door work when I was at uni and beyond (from 2005 - 2011). It was £10 ph base rate for your bars and pubs, usually £12 ph for clubs, which was big dosh for a student up north at the time.

For a giggle I got a new license in 2016 and did a few nights. Not only has the pay not increased in line with inflation, it's sometimes gone down to £9.50 ph. Furthermore, it's been gamified so that anyone working the doors pays £x admin fee to receive their fortnightly pay and they have to buy bits and pieces of uniform off their company at rather inflated rates. They also get harrassed now on Whatsapp constantly by area managers and also to have training at the employee's cost.

Regency Security is a fine example of all that is wrong with it. I went through their financials - CEO claimed a salary of £14k pa, except he got a multimillion pound bonus for the year. Nice tax dodge!

The SIA licensing authority and DWP are now in lock step as well to ensure cheap labour gets handed SIA licenses, so as to become part of the nothing precariat economy with salaries deductible from Universal Credit. Back in 2005 getting a license was a big decision and potential risk, where those interested decided on if the danger money was worth it. Now everyone on the dole is potentially given one for free, enabling high turn over and rock bottom wages, gamified so as to even go below the national minimum wage thanks to admin fees and all sorts.

Going by the doorman's situation, the night out is dying. I do miss it at times back in the old days - pulled some of the fittest girls I ever met in my life during that time and, despite a lot of jostling, can't say I ever really had to clatter anyone. Good times. Amazing how quickly times fly by, far quicker than deterioration of your looks and body apparently; the change in times renders everything we got used to/adapted to less than 10 years ago utterly obsolete.
 
Vanilla said:
Add to that nasty security on a power trip.
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There used to be this bouncer at a Wetherspoons I'd sometimes go to drink with people at work always on a bit of a power trip - several times seen him rough up and then deposit on the pavement outside some poor unwitting drunk who happened to get in his way twice or something... the one that ends up on the ground here (slightly poetic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ssw75wEWOs since that video from what I hear he has been fired. Feel sorry for the bald one as he always seemed decent and professional when I was in there.

EDIT: Not like it used to be though - 15 years ago or so those lads would have been laid out on the pavement in seconds and no one would have blinked an eyelid.
 
Vexr said:
Regency Security is a fine example of all that is wrong with it. I went through their financials - CEO claimed a salary of £14k pa, except he got a multimillion pound bonus for the year. Nice tax dodge!
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Assuming it was a dividend he would pay have paid about £367,000 in tax on £1 million, most of it at the additional rate of 38.1%

I don't see how that is a tax dodge. He still pays tax on it.
 
What is it that attracts people to go out to these places? I've never once stepped foot in a nightclub or even gone around the local town at night.
 
50p for a Vodka and coke in Revolution in Edinburgh back in the day...Student night, Wednesday nights.....ahhh the vague memories

used to go out with £15 and you could still share a taxi home and a kebab for that.....

Now a days, £4/5 a drink minimum, £8 entry to clubs, even some "pubs" charge you entry on a Friday/Saturday night - Easy £100 night out now.

Went out recently with friends and ended up in a pub I used to frequent 25 years ago - We had a few drinks and I watched 3 girls sitting a table (about 18/19), they had one drink between them, three straws, and spent 20 minutes preening themselves and taking selfies, facebook/snapchatting, didn't speak a word to each other, then got up and left. Maybe that's what a night out is these days......I know in 20 minutes I used to polish off about 4 beers and dance about like a loon......
 
VincentHanna said:
Assuming it was a dividend he would pay have paid about £367,000 in tax on £1 million, most of it at the additional rate of 38.1%

I don't see how that is a tax dodge. He still pays tax on it.
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Yes, but if he took the whole £1,014,000 as a wage he'd pay £459,915.11 in tax, so by using a dividend scheme he's legally "dodging" paying about £90k of tax. However as it's complete legal I see nothing wrong with it.
 
I honestly thought I was the only one that hated nightclubs, when I was younger all my friends used to force me to go clubbing, it was some of the worst experiences I ever had, I just never really understood it, dark and dingy smoke filled rooms full of sweaty drunk people, music so loud you could barely communicate with anyone, and you had to pay to have experience this!!
 
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Spacedeck said:
What is it that attracts people to go out to these places? I've never once stepped foot in a nightclub or even gone around the local town at night.
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Peer pressure i guess. When i was 18 i started going because it was the “done thing”. To be fair some of the nights were half decent but thats probably more due to the alcohol than anything. Stopped going when i was around 21 long after the novelty had worn off.

Much prefer a pub where you can have a chat.
 
Used to love a good club. Spend the day before buying new clothes, maybe a haircut.

Get absolutely loaded before I went out. Be meek and shy away from the loud groups. Dance with my group of friends, look at the pretty girls but under absolutely no circumstances make eye contact and speak to them.

Go to bed without meeting anyone new and, slap my knee and say to myself “well, better luck next time!!!” - then furiously browse GD.
 
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