Vaccine Passports demand to cause mass insolvencies in UK Nightclub sector
From the end of next month anyone entering a nightclub in the UK or other venue where large crowds gather will need to show a Vaccine Passport.
From the end of next month anyone entering a nightclub in the UK or other venue where large crowds gather will need to show a Vaccine Passport. These will be displayed via either an NHS phone app or a paper NHS Covid Pass letter.
“80% of nightclubs have said they do not want to implement Covid passports,” said Michael Kill, Chief Executive of the UK’s Night Time Industries Association, citing concerns that punters will simply go elsewhere and that venues may struggle with staffing.
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls added that the new Vaccine Certificates policy would be “a hammer blow” for nightclub businesses.
“This new policy is devastating” she stated recently, “and risks hitting these fragile businesses and derailing their recovery and costing thousands of jobs.”
Echoing her sentiments and those of Michael Kill, insolvency practitioner Simon Renshaw stated, “We’re finding that the UK night-time economy is one of the worst hit by Covid restrictions. Given the thin cash-flow reserves of most businesses in this industry now, it will not be surprising if the Autumn sees a wave of new insolvencies from nightclubs and businesses in their supply chain”.
75% of nightclubs close to insolvency
With many venues remaining closed and not bringing in any revenue since March 2020 the UK nightclub industry finds itself in one of the most precarious situations of any UK business sector according to CompanyDebt.com.
Contributing some £66 billion per year to the UK economy, a recent report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Night Time Economy found that, “Without urgent government support, nightlife businesses face ‘extinction’ that will see urban centres become ‘ghost towns’ and hobble wider economic recovery”.
Five ways Covid-19 has impacted the UK’s nightlife sector
