The changing landscape of London clubland

The changing landscape of London clubland

20 February, 2009 | 3.15AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: london

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,” so said the 18th-century writer Dr Samuel Johnson. With a population of around 8 million, the reputation of London as a financial and cultural capital of the world has been undisputed for centuries.

From an electronic music point of view, the largest city in Europe has enjoyed a standing as one of the world’s most developed dance music spots for many years, thanks to its thriving club scene and wealth of homegrown DJs and club promoters. But at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, something is rotten in London clubland.

A confounding number of dance music-centric clubs having closed in the past 18 months, having fallen one-by-one like dominoes by the swift hand of fate. It’s difficult to contend that it isn’t the end of a golden age of clubbing for London.

However, if Dr. Johnson were alive today even he might not accuse London’s clubbers of being in a state of disillusionment, as it is a lack of dancing spaces - not a deficiency of enthusiasm or demand - that sees them twiddling their thumbs come Friday night.

“For clubbers, losing The Cross, Turnmills, The End, Canvas, The Key, Unit 7 and T Bar is very sad,” says Andy Blackett, head of promotions at London’s Ministry of Sound. “It’s sad to lose so many venues in such a short space of time, because they all contributed to a rich and varied club scene.”

It is ironic that Ministry, which was the world’s first ‘superclub’ when it opened in 1991, is now one of London’s only dedicated large-scale dance music venues left standing. Alongside Fabric, and the newly opened Matter at The O2, Ministry is part of a dying breed of 2000 plus capacity clubbing venues in London that cater solely for electronic music.

“It’s hard to know what is going to happen next,” agrees Matter’s Managing Director Cameron Leslie. “There has been no downturn in people’s interests in dance music, and the club closures are purely a series of odd coincidences. The End’s closing had no relationship to Turnmills or The Cross’ closing, although all of the closures were due to property-related issues. It has nothing to do with habits changing, or new trends. Interest in clubbing hasn’t dwindled.”

The Culprit

But is it a coincidence that most of London’s established dance music clubs closed within 18 months of each other? Or are the deaths linked somehow?

The common thread binding all of the venues is that when they first opened they were in what a real estate agent might describe as “undesirable locations”.

The Cross, which opened in 1993, and its sister venues Canvas and The Key next door, were in King’s Cross, an area known for prostitutes, drug dealers and beggars.

Similarly when Turnmills first opened it’s doors it was in the previously shadowy spot of Farringdon. The T Bar was located in Shoreditch, which had traditionally been a less than desirable eastern outskirt of the City. Even The End’s ‘Central London’ location was really more a back street in no man’s land between Oxford Street and Holborn.

Over time though, things changed. King’s Cross got direct trains to France and Belgium and Europe’s longest Champagne bar. Farringdon was swallowed whole by the City, and Shoreditch, like much of the East End, became a haven for property developers looking to cash in on the cachet of cool that its art, music and fashion student residents had created. The same estate agents that wrote off those areas were now investing in them.

In the summer of 2006, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported that house prices in London were rising at their fastest pace for six years.

After years of running a nightclub and many many late nights, the benefits of cashing out simply outweighed the club and landowners’ self-interest to keep the flag of dance music flying. The opportunity cost would have been far too great had they decided to keep throwing parties.

Derren Smart, Programming and Promotions Director at the T Bar (once one of London’s most respected DJ venues), explains how the regeneration of Shoreditch led to the end of the Shoreditch venue. “We had a 10 year lease with a five year break clause and after five years the owners no longer wanted us in there,” he says.

Nobody likes rejection, but in the case of the T Bar, its operators were more than happy to vacate after five years. “In the last year, Shoreditch had changed so much, and we were glad to get out of the area. Shoreditch originally became a cool spot because so many artists and musicians lived in the area and they helped to create a thriving art and music scene, but over time it became overpopularised and many of those people left. Over time, it became very difficult to do something credible there.”

There is no clearer signal of how Shoreditch’s regeneration has changed the people that visit the area, than the members-only bar and restaurant that currently sits next door to The Tea Building.

“They were charging something like £1000 per year for membership, whilst we had no door charge and were focusing just on quality electronic music,” says Smart. “Ultimately, the change Shoreditch experienced is just like any up and coming area. After a few years of hype it becomes overpopularised, people move on, and people move in.”

Whilst regeneration of the locales may have caused much of London’s club demise, it may also indirectly be the catalyst for the scene’s own revival.

A useful analogy for what has happened to London’s club scene is to compare it to a controlled crop fire. When they burn the whole crop, they do so to promote new growth - Cameron Leslie

“In a way, a useful analogy for what has happened to London’s club scene is to compare it to a controlled crop fire,” says Matter’s Cameron Leslie. “When they burn the whole crop, they do so to promote new growth, and right now there are fantastic opportunities for new growth, at least at a smaller club level. Fabric and Matter have superbudgets, so a club that size is not within the realm of normal promoter operations, but with smaller budgets and smaller events London’s club scene could blossom again.”

Andy Blackett from Ministry also believes that despite the large losses, this could be a positive change. “London is at a crossroads right now, but good things will come out of it and there are still plenty of quality club events still going on every week. For example, SecretSundaze is doing well, Mulletover is going from strength to strength, and the Wet Yourself guys are now hosting Sundays at Fabric. East Village, which is run by Stuart Patterson, is doing really well too, I’ve heard.”

The Economy

The future may be bright then, but just don’t mention the economy.

One of the big problems facing would-be club owners in London, or indeed any new entrepreneurs, is a lack of potential investors. There might be a gap in the market for new venues and a voracious demand for alternative dancing spots, but in the depths of a recession, securing a bank loan for a larger venue would be very difficult.

A nightclub venture might suffer even more from a lack of investment thanks to the high risks associated with nightlife services in general. Not to mention the fact that Funktion One, house, and techno, are not normally part of an investor’s or bank manager’s vernacular.

That leaves private individuals as the only viable financing option, which is exactly how Matter was funded. “We wanted Matter to be fully owned by us and didn’t want any one diluting our shareholding,” explains Leslie who, along with some business partners from Fabric, opened the cavernous venue in September.

Some have suggested that out of the ashes of London’s former club scene, Matter may emerge as a soaring phoenix; a saviour of the city’s nightlife scene, but Cameron contends, “When we started planning Matter in 2006 we didn’t anticipate there would be a huge gap in the market. I also don’t think Matter will ‘save’ London’s club scene because it doesn’t need saving.”

The rebirth

From the dust of London’s former club scene, new stems are forming.

The spirits of both the T Bar and The End will live on in some capacity. The folks behind the T Bar have decided to open a new venue nearer Liverpool Street Station – for now, they’re calling it T London – where they will offer the same winning formula of quality electronic music and free entry that made their old spot popular with electronic music fans.

“We can’t say where it is yet, but it will be completely different to the T Bar,” whispers Derren Smart. “It’s a basement club with an upstairs bar. It’s a really old space with maple wood floors and it can fit around 450 to 500 people. It feels a lot more intimate than the old T Bar which was a multi-functional warehouse space that was used for a lot of different projects. This has more of a club feel to it, and our license will allow us to go till 3am, or 4am on weekends, unlike the old T Bar which was a 2am close”.

Two of The End’s former programming team haven’t left dance music for good either. Ajay Jayaram and Ryan Ashmore will take over The Arches venue in London Bridge each Friday under the aptly named banner We Fear Silence. Their 600-capacity parties, beginning March 6th, will host showcases from some of the UK’s top record labels, including Buzzin’ Fly and James Holden’s Border Community, plus long running breaks night Chew The Fat!.

Layo Pashkin, former owner of The End, has also announced his plans to remain faithful to clubland. Along with Liam, the old general manager of the club, he’s organized a series of warehouse parties called ‘Shake It!’ with Laurent Garnier headlining the first party on March 7th.

Even The End’s Sunday morning afterhours crew Jaded managed to save their sticks, and have set up shop at a new venue in Clerkenwell called Ghost.

Also, for better or worse, Shoreditch hasn’t quite yet collapsed under the weight of a million Minis driven by estate agents, with a new venue Roadtrip copying T Bar’s vibe with free entry and quality cutting-edge music. Labels like Tsuba, Immigrant and Hypercolour are reportedly involved. Similarly, 93 Feet East on Brick Lane has just been given a new weekly Sunday party called Fuse, offering up guests like Danton Eeprom. It has free entry too.

The big boys

Let’s not forget the big three either. Ministry of Sound is touting a brand new tunnel entrance and a newly refurbished loft room for 2009. The line-ups too, despite Ministry’s corporate image, have improved dramatically from where they were a few years ago. Adam Beyer, Sasha and Steve Lawler have all played there recently and as Blackett says, “The stigma associated with the Ministry of past years is no longer there.”

Matter’s reputation for hosting quality events is building too, and there is potential for the venue to lead the world’s clubbing community through its highly choreographed shows where sound and lighting are linked as one. Cameron Leslie says they aim to “create drama and theatre with live shows that take your breath away, subtly and precisely.” The forward thinking London club spirit of old is still pervasive, then.

There is no need to sing Fabric’s achievements here - the venue has for nine years led the world with its superbly progressive line-ups and precision programming.

The underground

And who says you need a purpose built nightclub to have kick-ass parties?

Mulletover, one of London’s modern club night success stories, has proven that all it takes is guts and a quirky space. When Geddes and his friend Rob started their parties five years ago, they had a vision for doing one-off overnight parties in wacky locations. Abandoned factories, basements, car parks, and garages all saw temporary Mulletover transformations as sound, lighting, credible house and techno DJs, and hundreds of clubbers mobbed the place for eight hours.

“In the early days we had no licenses so it was totally illegal, and we took big risks,” reminisces Mulletover’s Geddes. “But it was really exciting, although a little nerve-racking. Our parties kept getting bigger and bigger, and we always had this fear in the back of our minds that they would be shut down eventually. But not once in five years have we had to postpone a party.”

There have been some close shaves, though. “Once we threw a party in this huge basement beneath a garage in Old Street and at around 2am four vans turned up, loaded with police.

“The police came in, had a word, and then left because there was 800 people in there and they couldn’t be bothered to deal with so many clubbers at that time of the morning.”

The changing of the guards

All the people we interviewed for this piece agreed that 2009 will be the year that London reevaluates itself for the future.

And change is never a bad thing, because there are always positives to be found in a changing of the guards, a turning of the tide, and a new generation.

“It’s like everything in life,” concludes Mulletover’s Geddes. “Nothing lasts forever. Yes, the closures are not great, but London will turn those negatives into positives.”

Now even Dr. Johnson, might tip his hat to that.

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