Amid the venue crisis, Manchester nightclub XLR is trying a new model to stay afloat. On opening night, intoxication is down and women say they feel safer from spiking
‘I
f it doesn’t work, I can say I tried something,” shrugs Chris Hindle. We are sat in XLR, his 200-capacity club in Manchester’s student-filled Withington suburb, discussing the figurative anvil dangling over club culture.
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) recently reported that the UK has lost three venues a week in the past three months, seven in 10 venues are failing to make a profit and a quarter of towns and cities that had nightclubs in 2020 now have none.
“Alcohol duties are going up, bills are going up, yet drinking habits and attendances have dropped,” he says. Luckily, he’s got a plan – one potentially crazy enough to work.
