What’s happening to all our clubs? (APril 2024)
After a recent trip to Pryzm in Kingston to see Bleachers last month (thanks Banquet Records for the tickets) it got me thinking while drinking a small can of cider (that cost me £7.10!) that the number of clubs are slowly dwindling. What has happened to the state of clubs over the last few years. Surely we still can’t blame Covid for the slow demise of the hospitality and entertainment scene. What happened to these great nights down Utopia, The Mill, Masquerades or Simpsons. Do people even go out anymore?
Turns out I’m not imagining that there seems to be less places to go after the pubs close. New research from the Night Time Industries Association (NITA) shows that nearly a third of all clubs have closed since March 2020 and December 2023. That’s an average of almost 10 a week and 2 per week. That’s doesn’t take into account alarming drops in footfall and revenue being faced by venues that are scrapping by.
This year the largest casualty has been Rekom who announced the closure of 17 of their clubs earlier in the year. Pryzm in Kingston was one of the lucky ones as part of the group to stay open and being Banquet Records main venue for bands has probably helped no end.
It seems that it’s not necessarily young people don’t want to go out it’s more down to the cost of going out (once again £7.10 for a small can of cider!) due to the cost of living. It’s seems that people are having to save up to have a night out. Long gone are the days of being drunk in a pub and getting the Utopia fun bus down to a random junction off the M4. In hindsight having an IKEA there makes a lot more sense than a nightclub.
Combine this with an increase in running costs, materials, operations and security with less people coming through the doors and spending it’s no wonder that we’re losing two clubs a week.
What is the solution to all this. With us on the verge of going in and out of recessions at an alarming rate and inflation still high there isn’t an easy answer to this. Perhaps the lack of support during Covid, as nightclubs couldn’t take advantage of ‘Eat out to Help Out’, an increase in the minimum wage and the uncertainty of rails strikes have all taken their toll. If you can’t get home by public transport a taxi or an Uber is not a solution for a lot of people.
All of this has seemed to come together as a perfect storm. Here’s hoping the world of clubbing and DJing will make it through. I think it will… and long may Pryzm in Kingston still host many a great night by Banquet Records.
Perhaps nights like this will be the future for clubs diversifying from nights of loud music and cheap drinks under a car park in Bracknell.
New beginnings (March 2024)
Well, where do we start. From the early days of a pipe dream of two men having a few drinks discussing the good old days of working in a record store in the late 90s to taking the plunge into starting a business together.
We met many years ago over a shared passion of Sly and the Family Stone spending hours playing songs over the speakers in the shop discussing music and finding customers getting in the way of our deep conversations of what Jim Morrison would be doing now if he was still alive.
To trips to Reading Festival together to an ill fated trip to Utopia (which is now an IKEA!) where I lost my keys on the dance floor and a trip back on the Utopia Fun Bus to a ropey pub in Bracknell we stayed in contact throughout the years and our love of music only grew stronger.
Years later while at Camp Bestival (awesome festival by the way) with my family, my son turned round to me and said that he wanted a set of decks after seeing Dick and Dom doing a DJ set in a tent late at night (turns out Dom loves swearing once he’s had a couple of drinks). I jumped at the chance and bought him a set for Christmas and haven’t stopped using them myself reliving a misspent childhood. I discovered how much I loved and missed it and have embraced the way that the technology has moved on and it has been so much fun learning all about all the new hardware and software out there.
Then fate hit one night, a meeting with my new partner in crime who had been considering getting back into the DJ business and the timing seemed perfect. Drinks were had and we decided that night we would play a friend’s birthday one Saturday night and The Polyphonic Express was born.
Fast forward a few months and some investment later (I’m very taken by our new lights, they are great - its taking all my effort not to lock myself in a dark room with them most nights) and we are getting ourselves out there to share our love of music with as many people as possible. This is the start of the journey that we are both excited by and can’t wait to see where it goes. Hopefully we will see you all soon and share The Polyphonic Express with you over the next few months and years.
Jon (one half of The Polyphonic Express)
Early days sharing a hobby space with a loved one
Love these lights (you have may noticed that by now…)