NTIA calls for tax cuts to protect clubs and bars at upcoming budget
A quarter of towns and cities that had nightclubs in 2020 now have none, while 16% have lost all late-night venues
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The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has called on the government to cut taxes in the Autumn Budget (26 November), warning that rising costs are pushing clubs, pubs and bars to the brink of collapse.
The trade body said Britain’s nightlife is “under real threat”, with nearly 800 venues closing in the past five years and three shutting every week over the past three months. It added that more than 89,000 jobs have been lost since October 2024, while seven in 10 venues are losing money or barely breaking even.
According to the NTIA, the late-night sector has shrunk by 26.4% since March 2020, compared with an 8.1% decline across the wider evening economy. A quarter of towns and cities that had nightclubs in 2020 now have none, while 16% have lost all late-night venues.
This has been attributed to operating cost rises of between 30% and 40% since 2020, driven by rent, energy bills, staffing pressures and taxation. The NTIA added that measures introduced in the spring budget added between £30k and £80k in extra costs per venue.
In light of this, the trade body is urging ministers to cut VAT for hospitality and late-night businesses, reinstate national insurance thresholds for employers, and reform business rates to lower the hospitality business multiplier.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the NTIA, said: “Britain’s nightlife is under real threat. Dancefloors, whether in pubs, bars or clubs, are spaces of freedom, creativity and expression, where communities gather, artists perform and people can be themselves.
“The government must recognise that it does not own dancefloors, they are owned by communities. Every week we delay, more venues disappear. The time to act is now.”
The NTIA has also launched a campaign under the banner #CutTheDancefloorTax, calling on MPs, policymakers and the public to press the chancellor to include support in the budget on 26 November.
Kill said the measures would give businesses “the financial headroom to survive” and that the outcome of the budget would be a key test of the government’s support for the sector.
