NTIA: ‘Let us dance on New Year’s Eve’

As things stand nightclubs in England can trade so long as they enforce vaccine certification, but there are concerns they could soon be asked to close as has been the case in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the letter, chief executive Michael Kill cites ‘promising reports’ regarding the likelihood of the Omicron variant causing people to need to go to hospital and restates that "it has been clear for some time that late night economy venues, particularly nightclubs, with the appropriate measures in place, are not a major source of virus transmission".

The letter highlights that the night time sector contributes £46 billion to the culture economy and employs 425,000 people. 

“It’s likely that tens of thousands of our businesses will never recover from this damage. Most of these are small and medium sized owner run businesses that play a vital part in the cultural, social, and economic lives of our towns and cities,” it states .

“And if that is not bad enough, we now face the possibility that major parts of our sector may face further curbs, and, in the case of nightclubs, total closure immediately after Christmas. In a very real sense, we are facing the Sword of Damocles.”

The letter ends by calling on Boris Johnson "to act with clarity and decisiveness, as soon as the data allows, to firmly reject calls for further draconian measures against our sector as we fear that they will be unnecessary and will not contribute to the fight against the virus." 

"Every hour of uncertainty condemns thousands of businesses to failure with all the human, social and economic consequences that entails. Let’s not end this year as we did last. End the uncertainty and Let Us Dance on New Year’s Eve."