As we round the corner into 2025 and organising New Year’s Eve becomes increasingly urgent, you’d be forgiven for struggling to find somewhere in London to dance late into the night.
In fact, you might have better luck filling a water bottle with booze and heading to a 24-hour gym. According to a new report from BBC London, there are now more 24-hour gyms than 24-hour clubs in the capital.
The report estimates there may be as many as 300 gyms offering 24-hour services in London, compared to just 58 pubs, bars and nightclubs holding 24-hour licences.
This number has fallen drastically over the past three years, dropping by more than two-thirds between 2021-22 and 2023-24, according to Home Office figures.
The report has added to growing concerns about London’s status as a 24-hour city, a title which has become much-debated over the past few months.
It comes after research was released last month showing that half of Londoners are now ending their nights out by midnight. The survey found that over half (55 per cent) of 18-34-year-olds said they had recently been unable to continue a night out into the small hours.
These statistics, obtained by YouGov in collaboration with Little Door & Co, found that the main reasoning behind ending nights out early was because Londoners didn’t have anywhere else to go.
It also comes after several high profile scandals involving London venues, from reported rapes at Heaven nightclub and The Groucho Club (though both have since been given license to reopen), to drug deaths and a non-fatal stabbing at Drumsheds.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, blames the issue on the city’s travel infrastructure.
"Not being able to get home post-midnight midweek has been a real challenge," he told the BBC.
"There are 24-hour licences that don't operate within those hours, and that's based on the fact that if the infrastructure's not there to keep people safe and get people home, then they're not going to be supported by the market.”
Meanwhile, gyms are also adapting to feel more like nightclubs. Spin studios like Psycle and 1REBEL include club-esque lighting rigs and state-of-the-art sound systems that allow workouts to feel like a night out.
"A lot of our customers will come down to our 16:30 or 17:30 classes, get ready, and then go for a night out," Deonne Andrews, group general manager at 1Rebel, a high-end gym chain, told the BBC.
“We offer Prosecco Friday, where they have a drink with us, and then they'll go off for dinner and so forth.
“The lighting, the vibe, the music... it's like you're having a whole party on a bike.”
This further damning new insight into London’s nightlife economy comes in the wake of the resignation of the Night Czar, Amy Lamé, who stepped down in October.
