Скачать или смотреть Nightclubs under pressure as end of lockdown postponed

(22 Jun 2021) LEAD IN:
The nightlife industry in the U.K. is facing severe economic downfall because of its total shutdown since the start of the pandemic.
On 21 June, the country was supposed to lift all remaining restrictions, but it was called off just a week beforehand due to rising numbers of the Delta variant.
The logistics of reopening nightclubs is also hitting the industry, which now has to deal with complex reopenings that are constantly changing.

STORY-LINE:
These doors have remained closed for 15 months.
Fabric, this world-renowned London nightclub, is struggling to cope financially - like many others - because of COVID-19 restrictions.
According to the Night Time Industries Association, their business was worth 92 billion pounds in revenue in 2019.
But since the start of the pandemic, most venues haven't been able to generate any revenue.
As the nightlife industry was getting ready to reopen on 21 June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a delay of the easing of lockdown in England.
"Since today, I cannot say that we have met all our four tests for proceeding with step four on 21 June. I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer," says UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
His decision was motivated by a surge in COVID-19 cases from the Delta variant.
The four-week delay means that cinemas, restaurants and sport venues have to continue to operate at limited capacity and enforce social distancing - nightclubs remain limited to outdoor areas only serving drinks.
For nightclub managers, the news, although predictable, came as a huge blow.
"The signs were there, that it was probably going to happen for a few days before, so the initial disappointment had subsided, which allowed us to focus on how we were going to get through this extended period of closure," says Luke Laws, Operations Manager of Fabric.
At The Cause, a London grassroots venue which launched thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, the announcement lead to a similar reaction.
"We've been knocked back so many times with no information on what we're supposed to do. So, who knows? It's getting quite demotivating, to be honest," says Stuart Glen, Co-founder of The Cause.
And since most had still planned to reopen on 21 June, postponing everything logistically felt a bit like a double penalty.
"You need to put your staff in place, you need to negotiate your insurance, your electricity supply, you need to organize your wet stock. You DJs, the logistics," says Laws.
Similarly, clubs have to engage in time-consuming customer relations since a lot of people had already booked their tickets.
"We did have a sold-out event on the 21st, another one on the 24th, a sold-out weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That, of the top of my head was around about 6,000 tickets sold on their own," says Laws.
"And it takes resources to actually unscramble the mess. So I can't keep up with the amount of emails I'm getting in, the amount of phone calls of people asking me what's going. The admin to deal with removing everything is four weeks worth of work alone probably," says Glen.
This unplanned workload and the costs associated with a called off reopening will cause even more damage to the industry, according to nightclub managers.
"There are going to be businesses, and I'm hearing that there are businesses that are very much on the precipice and this delay of not being able to earn, not being cash positive, but actually burning - it is going to put some people under," says Laws.
No guideline, if any, has yet been issued by the government regarding potential remaining restrictions after that date.

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