Don’t Stop the Music: Protecting Britain’s right to joy and the nights that shape us
Foreword, Lord Tom Watson
Our nightlife, and the culture that runs through it, is integral to British life. Most of us remember our first gig, our first club, or a night out on a sticky floor where friendships were made and memories fixed for life. As this report sets out, the right to joy is part of what makes life more than work.
Music remains one of Britain’s great sources of soft power. It contributes billions of pounds to our economy, strengthens local communities, and gives local artists a path from the back room of a pub to a global stage. That first stage is often where talent is found, confidence is built, and places begin to take pride in their own creative life.
This is also an argument about place. A venue is rarely just a room with a stage or a bar with a licence. It can be the reason people come into a town centre, the reason they stay after work, the reason a young person feels their home town has a future. Nightlife gives places a pulse. It turns streets into destinations and helps communities feel visible, confident and alive.
That is why the recommendations in this report deserve serious attention. We need an approach that favours mediation over litigation in noise disputes; protects historic venues from takeover and demolition; and recognises vibrant neighbourhoods for the cultural value of their nightlife. Too often, venues that have served communities for decades are left vulnerable to development pressure, rising costs, and a vocal minority who move into lively areas and then complain that they are lively.
Our creative industries and night-time economy are full of resilient people. They take large personal risks because they love the work, the art, and the communities they serve. But that resilience is now being tested from every direction.
Nightlife should sit at the heart of local regeneration. That means finding imaginative ways to turn vacant spaces into venues, ensuring fair access to grant funding, and making sure no town loses its last remaining music venue. Once a venue is gone, it is rarely replaced. The loss is not just commercial. It is cultural, social and civic.
We have seen in cities such as Manchester what happens when local leaders recognise the potential of the sector. Nightlife can help bring a town or city centre back to life. It creates buzz, supports jobs, gives young people a reason to stay, and sends a powerful signal that this is a place where things happen.
I welcome the findings of this report by the Good Growth Foundation. Its message is clear: if we value music, culture and community, we must value the places where they happen.
Together, we should make sure the music never stops.
- Lord Tom Watson
Executive Summary
For too long our nightlife has been seen as a nuisance to control rather than part of the culture we celebrate. At a time of deepening public pessimism, the right to joy and to look forward to something beyond the end of the working day is more important than ever. The places that once meshed lives together and where friends and families built shared memories are increasingly disappearing.
Our new report positions the night time economy as the key to regaining Britain’s right to joy in everyday life and a sense of pride in the places that shape us. Today many venues, bars and pubs feel they’re fighting just to survive and resist closure, with the number of late night venues contracting by 28.9% in the last 6 years. And we know that people value these places deeply, even in a cost-of-living crisis. New research from GGF shows that 28% of 25-34 year olds are now going into debt just to pay for a night out.
This report’s recommendations put the sector on the offensive, by valuing the night time economy's role in people’s local pride and identity. Putting life back into our high streets is good for growth, good for jobs but most importantly it’s good for the quality of life of everyone in Britain. Places like Manchester that have understood the soft power of music, cultural identity and a thriving nightlife have reaped the rewards of attracting investment, talent and good growth. But, the right to a night out shouldn’t just be reserved for major cities. The often few remaining pubs and music venues in towns across the country are teetering on the edge, leaving the vibrancy that fills streets with laughter at risk as more fall silent after dark.
Without these scenes and venues we will also set ourselves on a course to losing the bedrock of one of Britain’s most successful exports: our music industry. It’s in local venues that emerging songwriters and artists cut their teeth and learn the skills that can propel them to becoming global icons.
While ‘alarm clock Britain’ has its place in driving growth, sometimes it is okay to hit snooze. By tying these ambitions together we can ensure that the night always belongs to all of us.
Policy Overview
Queue Jump to Growth - Put the night at the heart of regeneration: The ‘last venue standing’ finally closing in a town can have a devastating impact on people’s sense of local pride. Ringfenced emergency support should mean nowhere loses its last venue or pub. Night time venues should be on equal footing with heritage or retail in Pride in Place and the High Streets Strategy and ‘Meanwhile Use’ of unused buildings and pedestrianisation should be encouraged to bring empty high streets to life.
Resisting the War on Fun - Creating ‘Cultural Districts’: Creating new ‘cultural districts’, designated neighbourhoods with relaxed and fast-tracked licensing laws, that protect entire ecosystems, not just individual venues. Implementing an eye-wide open principle for any residents moving into Cultural Districts that prevents future disputes and enforcing the ‘Agent of Change’ principle across the board, prioritising mediation instead of litigation between residents and the NTE.
Culture at the Club - Valuing the night time economy as ‘real culture’: Placing live music and the night time economy on the same level as traditionally recognised creative industries. Classifying venues as cultural institutions and allowing access to the same government funds and schemes available to museums, operas and theatres. Creating a new asset of cultural value above the existing assets of community value.
Our Findings
The Good Growth Foundation conducted a nationally representative poll of 4,000 GB adults which found:
People are feeling the impact of rising prices: 72% say the affordability of going out is getting worse. This is highest outside of big cities, 83% in rural areas, 75% in suburbs and 73% in small cities/towns compared to 60% in big cities.
Young people are being pushed into debt to continue enjoying life: 28% of 25-34 year olds used money they did not have available(credit cards, BNPL, borrowing) to pay for a night out in the last year. 27%had for a concert or live music event and 33% for an evening meal.
People are losing their ability to go out and socialise with others: 43% believe this is getting worse, just 14% believe it is getting better.
The sense of decline is felt most outside of London: 43% believe the quality and variety of night life is getting worse vs 12% who believe it is getting better. In the West Midlands and East Midlands this rises to 51% and 49% respectively. In London it falls to 32%.
There is support for the government to intervene: 57% of the public believe the Government has ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ responsibility to ensure access to affordable and welcoming social spaces (pubs, clubs, cultural venues).
The Good Growth Foundation conducted a poll of 4,000 British adults online between the 27th of March and the 1st of April 2026. Figures were weighted to be both nationally and politically representative of all Britons, based on age, gender, education level, region, vote in 2019, vote in 2024, and political attention.
Headline Policies
"Eyes Wide Open" clause: A written disclosure inserted into all rental and sales agreements within Cultural Districts acknowledging that the neighbourhood is a protected nightlife area that may be louder than a standard residential one. Stopping residents from retroactively trying to shut down these venues.
Cultural Districts: A new statutory designation for nightlife neighbourhoods with relaxed, fast-tracked licensing, building on the government's planned "hospitality zones." Including mediation-first noise resolution and a "Presumption of Continuity" that shifts the burden of proof.
Asset of Cultural Value (ACV): A new statutory planning category above the giving venues automatic standing as a statutory consultee on adjacent planning applications, protection from change of use without a cultural impact assessment and where possible brought into community ownership and taken permanently off the market. Designated ACV’s would receive a plaque, similar to English Heritage blue plaques, from their council to signify that they have enhanced cultural status.
Last Venue Standing Funds: Putting venues on the same footing for funds such as Pride in Place and the High Streets Strategy as other cultural institutions or retailers and a level playing field for Arts Council funding. Including ringfenced support for the ‘last venue / last pub standing’ in an area. These last venues standing would also be automatically designated as Assets of Cultural Value, putting them on the same footing as heritage and culture sites such as opera houses or theatres.
Statutory Agent of Change: Upgrading the principle from guidance to a statutory duty (in line with Scotland), binding developers who fail to soundproof to cover the costs of any subsequent mediation or disputes.
100% business rate retention: For pubs and nightlife venues inside a Cultural District, up from the current 50%, giving local authorities a vested stake in the success of these venues.
Community Right to Meanwhile Use and National Register: A new national register for vacant and underutilised spaces that can be turned into night time venues alongside a legal right for community groups to apply for meanwhile-use license with councils as a backstop lessor.
Streamlined al-fresco dining licence: New streamlined processes that encourage al-fresco dining with joint longer-term applications for multiple venues on a street rather than multiple individual costly applications.
1) Queue Jump to Growth
The night belongs to all of us, but when the last music venue closes in a coastal town that once drew visitors from around the country to see their favourite rising star, or a small village loses the pub where grandparents first met, a single closure can mean that night is taken away.
Towns like Scarborough, Skegness and Blackpool built their identities on creating memories for locals and visitors across decades. These are places that are proud to have generated happiness and respite for millions. To potentially fully lose that and for those lights to go out would be to rip away a core piece of people’s local pride and identity.
Our polling found that those living outside of big cities were markedly more likely to believe that their ability to go out and socialise in the evenings was getting worse, showing it’s the places already with the smallest night time economies who are facing the sharpest declines.
This, however, is not irreversible. Where places have recognised the soft power of music and the life that a thriving night time economy can restore, they have been rewarded. Seaside towns like Margate (where tourism recovered to 99% of pre-pandemic levels by 2023) and on a larger scale, Bristol (see below)have managed to buck the trend by valuing the soft power that comes by championing music and the night time economy. It's a strategy that retains and attracts young skilled workers and brings with it economic growth. By putting the night time economy at the centre of regeneration we can give these places a queue jump to growth.
The Right to a Night Out
Regeneration funding targeted at the places that need it the most should properly centre the value that the night time economy can bring. Night time economy (NTE) venues should be explicitly recognised as eligible for Pride in Place and the High Streets Strategy, on equal footing with retail and heritage projects.
We propose updating existing eligibility guidance so that licensed music venues, nightclubs, theatres, and live entertainment spaces are named as qualifying assets within current Pride in Place and High Streets Strategy criteria. This would include ringfenced support given to towns with a ‘last venue standing’ where there is a single remaining licensed music or cultural venue, or in smaller villages a ‘last pub standing’ to prevent these places falling into cultural deserts.
Meanwhile use
The transformation of vacant and underutilised spaces into night time venues has created many success stories, for example inSouthwark, where the world-renowned Printworks nightclub first established itself via temporary ‘meanwhile’ use. A national register, modelled on that of the Greater London Authority, would proactively match empty spaces to NTE operators by requiring all local authorities to publish vacant commercial properties that meet reasonable venue requirements to an easily accessible national register, reversing visible high street decline and driving regeneration. Previous research by UK Music has found broad support for such a policy with 60% of people agreeing that empty or underused spaces in their town should be opened up to music and cultural use.
To place communities at the heart of this, we recommend a Community Right to Meanwhile Use, a legal mechanism giving community groups and venue operators the right to apply for meanwhile use licenses on long-term vacant commercial spaces with local authorities acting as a backstop lessor when owners refuse.
Pedestrianisation for regeneration
Cities across Europe with bustling night time economies, such as Barcelona and Amsterdam, have long embraced pedestrianisation and street dining to drive growth. Outdoor dining schemes create welcoming, visible and safe night time town centres, at a time when our polling shows 59% of people believe safety at night in towns and cities is getting worse. In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has backed outdoor dining with a £400,000 Summer Streets Fund. But, outside the capital, little similar support exists and existing laws are cumbersome. While the Business and Planning Act 2020 refined pavement licences significantly and capped fees, barriers still remain. We recommend a streamlined process to allow everywhere to embrace al-fresco dining. Multiple venues would be able to apply jointly for a shared outdoor dining licence covering the full width of the street between their premises, rather than only the footway adjacent to each individually. A joint application would be assessed once and valid for three years, instead of the current single year validation. Conditions would be set for the whole street rather than negotiated venue by venue, reducing the administrative burden for all parties and enabling a more lively atmosphere. Support for these schemes should be accessed via the existing Pride in Place and High Streets Strategy funding.
2) Resisting the War on Fun
Across Britain a war on fun is being waged by vocal NIMBYism. As venues struggle to survive on razor thin margins and rising costs, they’re faced with the threat of closure by belligerent complaints even on streets where they’ve existed for centuries.
High profile battles such as the Soho Society’s recent attempts to oppose any new openings in London’s West End are a warning that even neighbourhoods internationally renowned for their nightlife aren’t safe.
The costs and looming fear of fending off these threats places enormous pressures on all venues, but especially independent ones, fuelling tension between neighbours and often ending in lengthy legal processes. It took over three years for the iconic Night & Day Cafe in Manchester’s Northern Quarter to settle a noise dispute, threatening the ability of the venue to operate.
To protect these hubs of happiness we need policies that treat them as whole ecosystems, rather than standalone venues. Isolated they are fragile and open to being picked off one-by-one, as a whole they can be resilient and turn the tide.
Designated Cultural Districts
The creation of statutory Cultural District designations building on the government's intentions for new ‘hospitality zones’ in the National Licensing Policy Framework, would give these neighbourhoods an ironclad guarantee for their future.
Eye Wide Open
Residents who move into the centre of nightlife hotspots, should do so acknowledging the tradeoffs that come with that decision rather than being allowed to retroactively litigate against these venues and strip thousands of other residents of the vibrancy they enjoy.
Adopting the success of similar policy in New South Wales, an ‘eyes-wide open’ clause would be inserted into all rental and sales agreements within or adjacent to these districts. This written agreement would disclose that the neighbourhood being moved into is a protected Cultural District known for its nightlife, and that it may be an environment that is louder than a standard residential area.
Noise complaints in these areas should first be addressed via mediation between residents and venues supported by local councils, prioritising resolution over litigious adversarial processes. Venues in these districts with a history of responsible operating would be granted a ‘Presumption of continuity’ shifting the burden of proof to the complainant to demonstrate that conditions have substantially changed. In these districts, the threshold of unrelated households to trigger a licensing review would be set at 10.
Protecting our Pubs
Pubs play an important and vibrant part in our nightlife, bringing communities together for great evenings and acting as a launchpad for memorable nights.
To further support Britain’s pubs and to ensure local authorities have a greater stake in their success, a 100% business rate retention for local authorities should be established for pubs and nightlife venues in a designated cultural district. This offers local authorities a prominent stake in pubs and clubs. Currently, local authorities possess 50% business rate retention over pubs, with the other 50% given to the Treasury. Full business retention for licenced pubs and venues in the cultural zone would allow Britain’s nightlife to flourish, at a respectable volume.
A Statutory Agent of Change
Despite recent progress, the Agent of Change principle remains often toothless as a guidance. Developers currently continue to build residential properties near to established venues and successfully avoid suitable soundproofing, leading to noise complaints against venues. We propose bringing the principle in line with Scotland to make it a statutory duty. Where a developer has failed to implement adequate soundproofing and a venue subsequently faces complaints, the developer should be made to bear the costs of any mediation or hearing.
3) Culture at the Club
“Art is as essential to living as eating, a government that fails to recognise this need of a nation is failing in one half of its job” - Hugh Gaitskell
Far too often in government our night time venues, which produce some of our greatest cultural exports, are not placed on the same pedestal as more traditional arts.
The pub gigs, a small venue tour through the Midlands or a techno DJ at Fabric are just as important as the theatre or the opera. Music is the infrastructure that courses through our night time economy and these ecosystems deserve to be treated as British culture.
If our night time economy disappears so too will our proud music scene that contributes £8 billion through its artists, songwriters, producers and wider industry..
By recognising these places as cultural institutions and not just commercial businesses we can give them the respect and political support they have earned.
A Level Playing Field
Touring arts such as the theatre and orchestra receive unique tax relief due to the recognition of their cultural value and larger institutions such as museums and galleries rightfully receive support through long term grants funding.
Music venues and clubs deserve to be placed on a level playing field, by ensuring grants funds such as those given by Arts Council England properly assess how their processes and criteria may exclude night time venues and ensure that the cultural value of these places is not disadvantaged against larger more established institutions or shut out by complex bureaucracy that smaller independent venues may struggle to meet.
NTE venues also need stronger protections to prevent vital cultural assets being sold to developers and facing change of use. The current Asset of Community Value designation provides limited protections with a six-month right to bid when a property comes up for sale, and cannot prevent eventual sales to the highest bidder or protect against change of use.
Museums and art galleries currently sit within a planning designation that grants them a presumption of community benefit. Theatres and concert halls designation allows planning authorities to apply specific protection policies requiring evidence that a venue has been marketed and is no longer viable before any redevelopment is approved. Night time venues are in the same category but without equivalent NPPF guidance, listed on par with launderettes and taxi businesses. A nightclub that has operated for decades, launched global artists and anchored its town's cultural life deserves to be treated with statutory protections against demolition, a presumption against change of use, and public interest tests on any proposed change.
We propose a new statutory Asset of Cultural Value designation, based on criteria including cultural programming, and community contribution. The ACV would give automatic standing as a statutory consultee in any bordering or adjacent planning application, protection from change of use without a cultural impact assessment and business rates relief equivalent to that available to listed buildings in charitable use. This would give NTE venues the planning standing and cultural recognition that more traditional cultural institutions already have. Building on the initiatives of the Music Venues Trust and the government’s Community Right to Buy Fund, these assets should where possible be brought into community ownership and taken permanently off the market.
As part of the ‘last venue standing’ principle, the last venue or pub within a village or town, would be automatically eligible for this ACV designation, granting them the same standing as otherwise recognised heritage and culture sites, so that the local community pub which has served people for decades is given similar protections for its future as an opera house or theatre.
ACV’s would also receive a plaque from their local council, similar to blue plaques granted by English Heritage. This would signify to communities that their beloved venue has been given enhanced cultural status and is protected against closure.
