Nightclubs need ‘more protection’, says NTIA CEO
Night-time operators are “hugely worried,” said Night Time Industries Association’s CEO Michael Kill, with world-renowned Bristol nightclub Motion the latest to shut its doors for good.
Night Time Industries Association CEO Michael Kill has called for more protection and long-term solutions for nightclubs, after an iconic Bristol nightclub shut down.
Motion closed its doors last weekend after nearly 20 years of trade at their site near Temple Meads.
Almost 1,000 night-time businesses have closed in the East of England in the past five years, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).
Speaking to the drinks business, Kill said this year had been “very challenging”, with a huge amount of businesses lost across the board.
While there was a glimmer of confidence at the start of 2025, this vanished along with Rachel Reeves’ October Budget, which saw hikes in National Living Wage and National Insurance, according to Kill.
“We’ve seen a lot of people lose confidence and some drop out of the market,” he said.
Notable late-night closures in 2025 include Pryzm, Kingston and Mossy’s Nightclub, Lowestoft, with Chelmsford venues Walkabout and Popworld also set to shutter up shop.
Bidding Motion goodbye
In July, Motion’s lease expired with the landlord expected to sell or repurpose the site. Motion bid to repurchase the freehold but its application was rejected.
Rakhim, 27, who has lived in Bristol for two years, looks back fondly at Motion: “My favourite night was just a few months ago, at the Dubtendo x Balter night, where Mandidesxtrous headlined.
“The vibes were immaculate, everyone was dressed up as Mario characters and it was just a big fat party, smiles all around and non-stop dancing, and not a phone in sight.”
He hailed the nightclub as a “landmark and a Mecca”, and said losing the space was like “tearing away a bit of history”.
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Kill agreed: “In this case, the community has lost, Bristol’s lost, and the UK has lost one of the most important spaces for electronic music for good, and that’s devastating for us,” he said.
For the NTIA CEO, more protections need to be given to nightlife venues, because many of them are cultural institutions for underrated regions.
This protection could look like the government cutting back on taxation, said Kill, but he also called for more cultural heritage recognition for nightclubs, similar to Germany’s adding of Berlin techno to its UNESCO heritage list.
“An industry in crisis”
This week, BrewDog announced it would axe 10 sites “within days”, and Oakman Inns entered administration. Recent data from the British Beer & Pub Association predicted one pub would close per day in 2025.
“How many more have we got to lose before the government actually recognises that it’s an industry in crisis?” said Kill.
Consumers, feeling the cost-of-living squeeze, have cut back on nights out. More than a third of Brits reduced the times they went clubbing from 2022 to 2023, according to Rekom’s Night Index 2023. But Kill said the government could address some reasons they weren’t flooding dance floors.
These included people feeling unsafe on the street and the lack of late-night public transport. “That’s pushing people to go home before midnight, killing the late-night economy,” said Kill.
Hope for 2025 Budget
Nightclub operators are “hugely worried,” said Kill, with many hoping the government will offer support on the 2025 Autumn Budget.
“But I have a real fear that we’re building ourselves up to a black hole narrative again,” he added.
Kill continued: “What we need is some financial headroom in terms of those taxes being more considered and reduced to allow us the financial headroom to trade.
“But alongside that, we also need some of the mechanisms that are going to support the industry, for instance, safety, transport; and obviously businesses want a more permissive regulatory framework.
“At the moment, we talk long-term, we talk opportunities, but, you know, we’ve got an immediate problem.”
