Latest news with #MikeGrieve
STV News
4 days ago
- Business
- STV News
Scotland needs a 'nightlife minister' as industry faces critical challenges
Calls for the Scottish Government to appoint a 'nightlife minister' have been made as the industry continues to face critical challenges. The Night Time Industries Association believes Scotland is 'lagging behind' in supporting the hospitality industry with rising costs, restrictive policies, and insufficient government support, putting pressure on businesses. The organisation is calling for a nighttime economy strategy and for it to fall within the role of a specific minister Mike Grieve, who owns the Sub Club in Glasgow and chairs the NTIA, said the Covid pandemic has been a 'significant' factor in the challenges facing nightlife across the city. 'Younger people who aren't used to being out in nightlife, and older people who got used to staying in and watching TV,' he told STV News. However, he added, there is an 'appetite' for young people to go out and believes there always will be. 'It's part of the human psyche, you want to go out and socialise and party, that's part of the make-up of the human race. I just think some of the behaviour patterns have changed. 'It's a very significant contributor; hospitality businesses are the biggest employers for under-30s in the UK. So that gives you just a flavour for how valuable it is. 'The increases in wage cost, the national insurance hike and the lack of rates relief we're getting in Scotland are very significant for operators. 'With inflation, the cost base has grown significantly, and it's not a cost that we're able to pass on to our customers,' he added. The club owner added that transport out of Glasgow has affected the industry because people are unable to get home. 'It's become a problem across the whole of Scotland, not just Glasgow. But we lack a solid transport infrastructure going out of the city after midnight. It's easy to get in, but getting home is a concern for people. 'Really, what we are calling for is a nighttime economy strategy and for it to fall within the role of a specific minister. 'At the moment, it's spread between a few, so there's no direct responsibility in Scotland. 'Scotland needs a strategy so it can be adopted throughout local authorities, and then they can have their own strategy, and there's cohesion to the way it's approached.' The strategy would include solving issues such as planning and licensing, as well as issues around training and best practices. The group believes that Scotland is 'lagging very far behind' in terms of infrastructure for the night-time economy. 'Most places in Europe have an active nighttime economy strategy that works within the national governments; we don't need to look far for it. Ireland has eight local city nighttime economy managers,' he said. 'The UK has led the way in recent times with music and trends, and people take it for granted.' The Scottish Government said that it provided 40% business rates relief to hospitality premises – a relief that the NTIA says is not extended to small businesses. Business minister Richard Lochhead said it welcomes any 'realistic contributions' to grow and improve Scotland's economy and continues to call on the UK Government to reverse its decision to increase employers' national insurance contributions, which is having a detrimental impact on the night-time industry 'We are providing 40% rate relief in 2025-26 for hospitality premises, including music venues with a capacity of up to 1,500 people, which is benefiting night-time businesses,' he said. 'Scotland also continues to offer the most generous small business rates relief in the UK, with around half of properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors being eligible for 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Scotland should have 'nightlife minister' like Australia
Scotland should have a government minister devoted to the country's nightlife, according to an industry Grieve, who owns the Sub Club in Glasgow and who chairs the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said the country is "behind the curve" in supporting clubs, restaurants and live music venues. He argued the industry should be taken more seriously by politicians and that Scotland should take inspiration from New South Wales in Australia, where there is a 24-hour economy commissioner - the first state-level role of its kind in the Scotland News has contacted the Scottish government for comment. Mr Grieve's made the comments as the NTIA publishes a new manifesto, with a 31-point plan for helping the industry. He told BBC Scotland's Scotcast that the industry has struggled since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, with more people preferring to stay in since he believes "thinking big" can help the industry thrive, and points to Australia as an example to 2014, Sydney introduced a series of controversial laws to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence, enforcing strict curfews for bars and designating known party zones as an entertainment years later the laws were rolled back, with hundreds of businesses having shut, and a new strategy introduced to bolster the about the NTIA's plan to improve nightlife, Mr Grieve said: "'Take us seriously' is definitely the call from this document. I think Scotland is behind the curve on this. "New South Wales has completely transformed the night-time economy over the past couple of years."In recent years the likes of the Shed nightclub in Glasgow and the Ironworks music venue in Inverness have closed. Even Glasgow's Garage nightclub, which at one stage was open every night of the year, has cut back opening hours. Areas of law and policy which affect Scottish nightlife - be it licensing or public transport - are spread across different government Mr Grieve said a new role could link different areas together, comparing it to how a transport minister would draw upon various parts of one industry to form overall added: "It [the night-time economy] feels a bit taken for granted, like it's just going down the pub and then on to the disco, but it's a substantive part of the economy."Mr Grieve believes there has been a shift in recent years towards planning nights out in advance and booking ahead, rather than simply arranging to just go out on a Friday or Saturday. He said a younger generation never grew into going clubbing the way previous generations had, due to the various Covid-19 enforced lockdowns. In Glasgow, Uber and business leaders have called for scrapping the limit on cab drivers to make it easier for people to go home at the end of the drivers held a rally against the possibility, fearing it will squeeze an already tight industry even Grieve said: "Glasgow is peculiar in relation to other cities, the population centre is outwith the immediate city centre, so people have to come into the centre of Glasgow to get involved with the nightlife, and then leave again. "In order to feel secure about coming into Glasgow, you need to feel secure about getting home – so that's a problem."He said many of the issues with transport in the city "go back decades" and current steps to improve it are like "trying to put a sticking plaster on a hole in a dam."Mr Grieve has worked at the Sub Club for more than three decades, and currently works as managing director of the Jamaica Street venue - a club regarded as a key part of the city's music culture. Other proposals in the document, written by licencing lawyer Stephen McGowan, include ensuring local authorities develop their own plans for the sector, rather than focusing purely on licencing suggestions include vocational training so workers can gain skills, drug testing facilities to reduce the risk of dangerous substances and rates relief for Scottish government said previously that Scotland's hospitality industry benefits from the most generous small business rates relief in the UK. It said around half the properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are eligible for 100% relief through the small business bonus NTIA also wants to protect cultural venues in the same way as heritage sites, meaning somewhere like the fire-damaged O2 ABC - currently set to be turned into flats and a public foodhall - would be offered greater Grieve added "getting a regular crowd that comes [every week] is a thing of the past" but that he remains optimistic about the sector's said: "It's a really resilient business. People will always want to go out and dance."
Glasgow Times
21-04-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Scottish Government has 'no interest' in nightlife culture
Mike Grieve, managing director of Glasgow's iconic Sub Club, said the Scottish Government's treatment of the nightlife industry is lagging behind the rest of the UK, and funding is too challenging for many in the sector to access. Mr Grieve, who chairs the Scottish Night Time Industries Association (SNTIA) and is a director of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), added that he is working on a Scottish Manifesto for the Night Time Economy due to be published in the coming weeks. Scotland lost more than 30% of its nightclubs in four years. The number of venues dropped from 125 to 83 between June 2020 and June 2024, according to the latest statistics from CGA Neilson. Speaking at a Save The Scene panel for stakeholders in Scotland's nightlife sector, Mr Grieve said: 'The Scottish Government has no interest in any cutting-edge culture. They see culture as that traditional, high culture. The kilts and shortbread culture. They don't actually see what we do as being cultural in the right way.' He added: 'They certainly don't support it financially compared to the rest of the UK.' (Image: Newsquest) Mr Grieve criticised the Scottish Government for not using UK Treasury funding to provide the same level of rates relief to nightclubs in Scotland as is happening with their English counterparts. In the 2024-25 financial year, eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England were offered 75% rates relief. From April 1 it was reduced to a 40% discount on business rates bills, capped at £110,00 per business. The UK Government described the move as an interim safeguarding measure until a permanent reform of the business rates system is introduced in 2026. A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: 'Scotland's hospitality industry benefits from the most generous small business rates relief in the UK, with around half of properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors continuing to be eligible for 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief. 'The Scottish Budget 2025-26 provides 40% non-domestic rates relief for hospitality premises liable for the Basic Property Rate, including grassroots music venues with a capacity of up to 1,500 people, capped at £110,000 per business.' Hospitality businesses with a rateable value up to and including £51,000 are liable for the Basic Property Rate. This excludes around 2,600 hospitality businesses in Scotland, such as larger venues, with a rateable value above the threshold. In 2025-26, the Scottish Government said it plans to freeze the Basic Property Rate and provide a package of reliefs worth an estimated £731 million. Attendees at the event on April 9, including club promoters, DJs, musicians, sound and light technicians and more, suggested they 'hadn't experienced any effects of government funding' on their practices. Mr Grieve said: 'The reality is, sadly, the funding. What funding there is is inaccessible to people. I doubt there are very many people in this room who would know how to access any funding for any kind of cultural activity. And I think that's almost deliberate in our country. 'Sadly, I think you go to other countries in Europe, they make it easy for people to access whatever funding is there.' Creative Scotland distributes Scottish Government and National Lottery funding for the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland. It supports the live music sector via its Open Fund. The Open Fund was temporarily closed last year due to budget uncertainty, which led to a major crisis in the arts sector. Creative Scotland is currently under review. A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: 'We have demonstrated steadfast support for culture and the arts in Scotland, with game-changing increases in funding for the sector. 'The highest ever number of artists and organisations will receive regular funding from Creative Scotland this financial year – including grassroots and community culture as well as the music sector.' Referencing the independent Nightlife Taskforce introduced in London in February and the Dublin City Night-time Economy strategy released in autumn 2024, Mr Grieve said: 'There are other examples around the UK and beyond the UK where nightlife (economic activity that occurs after 6pm) is taken seriously by the government.' There is hope that the forthcoming Scottish version of the NTIA's Darkest Before The Dawn Manifesto could provide a framework that offers key recommendations for policymakers on how best to support Scotland's night-time economy. Mr Grieve said: 'The idea is to produce a strategy for developing nightlife within Scotland, across the board.' He is also working with Glasgow's City Centre Taskforce to produce a nighttime vision for Glasgow city centre.
