Clubs ‘hanging by their fingertips’ as 25 venues close in three months

Published Tuesday 12 February 2008 at 14:40 by Mark Ritchie

One of light entertainment’s leading employers, the Club and Institute Union, revealed this week that at least 25 of its venues have closed in the last three months.

General secretary Kevin Smyth said the news marked “the worst year during my 30 year involvement with the union”.

The organisation’s membership has been in persistent decline since the seventies, but representatives claim its problems increased with the introduction of harsher public smoking laws in England last year.

Yet figures for the last quarter year appear to be the worst yet - equivalent to the loss of 100 clubs annually.

Smyth predicted the rate of closures for the full, 12-month period would be less severe overall, but admitted he remained pessimistic.

He told The Stage: “Admittedly, this is the time of year when most of the club closures take place, but this year I would still anticipate more than 50 closures nationwide.

“The smoking ban is undoubtedly one of the main factors. Our clubs have more smokers pro-rata compared to many other organisations.”

Leeds branch secretary Martin Smith echoed the remarks, adding the number of sites in the city registered with the union has declined from 81 to 74 since summer.

“Clubs are hanging on by their fingertips. A lot of our members are older and if you’ve been a smoker for the best part of your life, you can’t turn it off just like that. The ban hit us very hard in Leeds,” said Smith.

Previously it was thought that CIU venues were shutting at the rate of 80 a year, based on the number which failed to renew their membership. In fact, the union now acknowledges that a proportion of these might have continued to function and the long-term rate of closure may be slightly lower than thought.

But the news is unlikely to reassure acts which rely on clubland employment because entertainment budgets are a prime target for those venues forced to reduce overheads in order to survive.