WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF LONDON CLUBBING?
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS AND AUSTERITY, AN ENERGIZED CROP OF COMMUNITY-FOCUSED COLLECTIVES, PROMOTERS, AND VENUES HAVE EMERGED IN THE UK CAPITAL.
Against some tough odds, they are fighting to keep the city’s electronic music scene not only alive but thriving. Here, Georgia Mulraine looks at how promoters and partygoers are adapting to this new landscape, adjusting their expectations of what going out looks like, and, ultimately, asks: what is the future of London clubbing
It’s an early August afternoon in Tottenham, North London. Nestled on an unassuming industrial estate on Markfield Road, beautiful floor-to-ceiling record shelving is being assembled alongside a solid oak DJ booth for a new hi-fi listening bar, Moko.
A sister venue to Jumbi, Peckham’s much-loved late-night spot, the new venue is set to return dancers to the warehouse space that was previously home to the Five Miles nightclub — a former pillar of Tottenham’s blossoming clubbing scene. “No one can’t be excited about what’s going on in Tottenham right now if you’re into nightlife,” enthuses Nathanael Williams, director of Moko, Jumbi, and Hackney Wick’s The Colour Factory, over Zoom as the build goes on around him. Just a few weeks later, the party at Moko is in full swing as the shelving — erected by Jay Heston Richards, also the designer behind Jumbi, found through a social media call out for Black carpenters in South East London — is stacked high with records. They are played through a custom-made vintage sound system designed by London-based bespoke audio studio, Friendly Pressure.
The venue joins a growing list of new spaces that are opening an exciting chapter of London nightlife. However, these new venues are emerging amidst a backdrop of challenges presented by the ongoing cost of living crisis and austerity, as promoters and partygoers adjust their expectations of what going out looks like. It’s a crisis that has had a devastating impact on London’s venue numbers, with the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) most recently revealing a 31% loss of nightclubs between June 2020 and June 2023 — over 100 independent clubs have closed in the past year. Yet, despite these pressures on physical club spaces, an energized crop of collectives, promoters, venue owners, and innovators are fighting to keep the city’s electronic music scene not only alive but thriving.
“Nightclubbing in decline is an age-old tale,” explains London-based DJ, producer, and promoter, Saoirse. “I’ve been in London 13 years now and since then it’s been clubs close, close, close. Raves will always happen and people will make do with whatever they can, especially in the DIY scene. There’s always going to be issues you run into, especially [in] a city like London that’s based on capitalism. But actually, with the recession, [and] having a Tory government, that’s when things get more DIY, and more interesting, and more art is created. It tends to be the way that people need to be when they’re sort of forced out.”
Alongside Moko and Jumbi, Williams also runs The Colour Factory, where he hosts parties from collectives like Eastern Margins — described on the club’s website as a “home for alternative Asian culture” — PXSSY PALACE — an arts platform that “center Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who are Queer, Intersex, Trans or Non-binary” — and Howl — who “bring together different LGBTQ+ communities under one roof”. “Being an underrepresented, community-owned club, it’s enabled us to empower community-led collectives,” Williams explains. “And it just trickles down. This is the future of London. This is what the future of what promoting is going to look like.”
An extension of Jumbi’s community spirit, Moko also celebrates Caribbean culture. Where Jumbi is a mischievous spirit in Caribbean folklore, Moko is a healer. Together, it's a nod and reminder of Moko Jumbies, the tall, colorful stilt walkers who represent the history of Caribbean history and are in prominent festivals and celebrations, including the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.
As a co-founder of Body Movements, Saoirse is another promoter familiar with running a party with an inclusive ethos in London. The festival’s summer edition takes place across multiple spaces in Hackney Wick, and “celebrates queer bodies in club culture”. Despite facing challenges with the unpredictability of venues staying open and rising financial costs, she maintains that it is the DIY spirit and communistic values behind the party that keep things going. “Body Movements needs to be something giving,” she explains.
“We want to throw a big party but we also want to give something back. We really want Body Movements to become a kind of summit for queer culture and have a number of different arms to it — rather than just a big rave.”
Speaking to DJ Mag after last year’s summer festival, Saoirse explains what the team has learned about making Body Movements work in the most safe and inclusive way. “After year one, we realized that a lot of our venues weren’t used to having our types of events and community in their spaces. So we created a venue pledge: this policy which very much outlined what our ethos and values are.
In order to work with us venues had to adhere [to] and sign this pledge, so if anything takes place in that venue has to do with their security or their staff, something that is ableist for example, we’ve already had a briefing, and done the work we can to and ensure they are on board. We also put on training for the staff to help them learn that working with the queer community can be different from the “standard” hetronormative night — they can be vulnerable. I have to give Clayton (Body Movements’ co-founder) credit for putting a huge amount of work into that.”
