Attis' Mission to Transform London into a Global 24-Hour Entertainment Destination
Attis has just submitted evidence to the London Assembly's Economy, Culture and Skills Committee as part of their inquiry into the future of London’s nightlife.
We’re calling for a bold, mission-led approach that reimagines the city’s night-time economy by creating International Centres of Entertainment (ICE) – vibrant, 24-hour entertainment districts that could set a new global standard.
This isn’t just about fixing what’s broken; it’s about transforming London into a world-class destination for nightlife, ensuring our city stays dynamic, safe, and inclusive for everyone.
Check out our full submission to see how we can achieve the mission for London's nightlife!
Submission
The London Assembly Economy, Culture and Skills Committee
An investigation into the state of London’s night-time economy
Executive Summary
This short submission proposes a mission-led approach to reverse the apparent decline in London’s night-time leisure economy and instead create and manage a world-class, 24-hour clubbing sector based on one or more International Centres for Entertainment.
1. The Attis approach to the night-time leisure economy
1.1 Attis is a town centre vitality agency that takes a mission-led approach to issues that impact the vibrancy, viability, and sustainability of town and city centres. Whereas the traditional issues-led approach looks at issues in silos – licensing, security, planning, etc – our mission-led approach sets a mission and creates a mission team comprising experts in all the elements required to achieve that mission.
1.2 This mission-led approach allows Attis to respond innovatively and effectively to many different types of challenges faced by town and city centres.
1.3 Attis directors have experience working with the late-night leisure economies in Bristol and London. Managing Director Paul Barnes has worked for club operators in Southwark, Shoreditch and Soho. Place-Making Director Leighton de Burca is a key figure in Bristol’s night-time economy, and on national policy issues, Security Director Tony Nash advises clubs throughout London.
1.4 While our submission responds to an inquiry into the late-night economy, our experience leads us to treat the night-time leisure economy as part of a wider 24-hour experiential economy.
2. The focus of our submission to the Committee
2.1 The first six of the committee’s questions are designed to enable a greater understanding of the current state of London’s late-night leisure sector and the issues it faces. We asked others who operate in the sector to give their views on the current state of the sector in London. The focus of our submission is on the final question which asks what further action the Mayor and Night Czar could take to support London’s night-time economy.
3. The importance of the late-night leisure economy to London
3.1 London is a global megacity that strives to be a great place to live, work, and visit. It competes with cities worldwide for investment, talent, students, and visitors. It supports traditional and emerging business hubs. It is for others to produce research into the ideal mix of attractions that make a city a global destination, but clearly, a vibrant night-time economy plays some part in that mix.
3.2 When working on a campaign for the Ministry of Sound some years ago, one fact that stood out was from GLA research which stated that on Friday and Saturday evenings, more people go clubbing in London than the combined number of visitors to all of the top ten London tourist attractions in a whole week. COVID-19 and other factors have resulted in declining club attendance since then but this remains a striking figure and illustrates the relative scale of London’s clubbing sector.
3.3 Many of the attractions that make London such an appealing city to live, work, and visit survive and prosper with little proactive government input but in a benign regulatory system. These include our shopping districts, world-class restaurants and hotels, commercial theatre, and elite sports. Others receive active support from the government, such as national opera, ballet, and theatre; museums and galleries; parks; universities; and historic buildings. Yet London’s clubs operate in a unique environment of little proactive government input but in a regime of strict licensing regulations that often pitch individual businesses against local authorities, the police and other regulators in a relationship that can turn confrontational to the detriment of individual businesses and the sector as a whole.
3.4 We have not seen updated research into the scale, value, and importance of the clubbing sector both to people living in London and those visiting it. While this is an insights gap that needs to be filled, we can assume that the clubbing sector is still valuable and should be valued.
3.5 London’s late-night clubbing industry is not effective as a united sector in promoting its importance and issues to policymakers to push for a more positive operating environment. It has been difficult to get club operators to work together for reasons they can explain, but the need for a united effort to persuade policymakers to recognise the importance of the sector and the need for a more positive approach to relationships is hindered by the lack of a united voice from London club operators.
3.6 Most other sectors have more effective industry champions to promote their cause. This is not in any way belittling the hard work and efforts of the sector’s key promotion elements who do the best possible in a difficult environment. The Night Time Industry Association does an amazing job promoting the UK-wide industry on all types of policy and practical issues but this wide scope stretches its limited resources. Similarly, UKHospitality is a hugely effective national trade body but its work for late-night leisure is limited by the competing priorities of its mainly hotel, pub, and restaurant members. The Mayor’s Night Time Czar and her team are great champions of London’s late-night clubs but the restricted strategic role and powers they have means they often get blamed for developments out of their control and remit.
3.7 The Mayor’s commitment to creating a London Nightlife Task Force and Nightlife Fund are good opportunities to bring together the public and private sector players. In keeping with the new government’s mission-based policymaking, we hope that the Mayor will set a clear, challenging but achievable mission with agreed outcomes within realistic timescales. London doesn’t need a talking shop for complaints, interesting reporting updates, and engagement for engagement’s sake. There is the opportunity to get all the key players working together, not in conflict over regulations and opposing views, but to contribute their expertise and to cooperate in devising and delivering innovative but practical ways of achieving the mission set by the Mayor.
3.8 In response to this inquiry we have produced the Attis Ten Point Plan as a suggestion of how this mission-led approach might work. We focus on the creation and management of one or more world-class districts within the CAZ, which we have called International Centres of Entertainment (ICE), which will maintain and enhance London’s global reputation.
3.9 There are a number of existing globally renowned venues in London that are not concentrated in any particular area. These have already helped establish London’s reputation and we would hope that their operators would join the Mission Team both to contribute to the International Centres for Entertainment and to ensure that they benefit from the overall growth of this sector.
3.10 Clearly there are also local neighbourhood late-night leisure businesses throughout London, but they are not the focus of our evidence, although lessons learned from the International Centres of Entertainment can help in the development and management of the sector throughout London.
4. The Attis Ten Point Mission Plan
4.1 The Attis Ten Point Mission Plan aims to revitalise the evening and night-time leisure economy so that it contributes to growth, adds to London’s appeal to those who live, work and socialise here and continues to attract visitors, talent, investors, innovation and students from around the world.
4.2 In addition to existing or future local neighbourhood night-time leisure economy activities, the Mission Plan focuses on the creation of one or more International Centres of Entertainment in the CAZ.
4.3 The ten points of the Attis Mission Plan are :
i) Adopt a Mission, such as “to make London the World’s best destination for late-night leisure”, based on measurable, challenging but achievable indicators including quality, scale, mix, diversity, value, safety, harmony, and innovation and with realistic timescales agreed.
ii) Create a Mission Team comprising all the necessary expertise and experience to work together positively as a partnership of interests, all focussed on achieving the Mission. The Mission Team should include experts in local authority regulatory services (particularly licensing and planning), policing, property ownership, operation of clubs and related venues, hospitality, security, transport, recruitment and training, tourism, branding and marketing, and partnership creation.
iii) Determine what data is required to ensure that the delivery of the mission is evidence-led; collate existing data; and commission any necessary additional research to a) justify the mission b) inform the mission delivery and c) benchmark progress.
iv) Identify one or more suitably located night-time leisure experience economy areas as International Entertainment Centres and adopt planning and licensing responsibilities and policies that reflect the specific regulatory and management requirements necessary to achieve the Mission.
v) Concentrate late-night leisure in areas with few residents and if new residential applications subsequently arise, legally ensure that they cannot detract from the primary purpose of the late-night leisure area.
vi) Integrate the late-night leisure sector into the wider local 24-hour experiential economy – including accommodation, transport, hospitality, leisure, shopping, heritage, and culture – to create the best experience.
vii) Reimagine buildings and use them as 24-hour live venues for new talent to attract the best of the best potential from around the globe.
viii) Grow diverse markets and make everyone safe with integrated night-time safety strategies, particularly for women. Harnessing new technologies and coordinating police and private security.
ix) Establish a London night-time academy, funded by the Mayor’s AEB and the proposed Skills and Growth Levy to create an unrivalled night-time service for customers and career opportunities for employees.
x) Create a learning lab to constantly monitor and learn from the best in the world to identify, lead, and respond to emerging trends and new formats.
5. A new approach to the creation and management of London’s late-night economy
5.1 We believe this Mission-Led approach provides a new and dynamic structure that will encourage all partners to work together, contributing their expertise and regulatory and legal powers, to create and manage a world-leading late-night leisure sector in London.
5.2 Furthermore, we believe that this sector should be integrated into London’s wider 24-hour experiential economy to continue to attract the residents, visitors, talent, student, investment and ideas of the future.
August 2024
Paul Barnes, Managing Director
Leighton de Burca, Director for Night-time Economy
Tony Nash, Director for Safety and Security
Dan Johnson, Director for Placemaking and Public Realm
Gary Reeves, Director for Partnership and Governance
