London nightlife is gasping for air, and it seems everyone wants to get on the guest list. This city, once famous for its sticky floors and nocturnal stamina, is dotted with the shipwrecks of venues that couldn’t survive our collective shrug. There are only a handful of medium-sized clubs left blinking in the dark and instead of throwing them a rope, everyone keeps asking if they can get on the list — for free.
There is a new entitlement culture. It doesn’t just seem to be friends and family trying to blag their way past the steel barrier, either. I have access to a couple of club-night Instagrams and the DMs are loaded with messages like: “It was my birthday two months ago, can 15 of us get in free next Saturday?” Bar staff are hounded, security are flirted with.
