A new poll from the Night Time Industries Association paints yet another bleak picture for businesses in the night time economy industry.
Of the 300 night time economy businesses surveyed in the four days the poll’s been running, three out of four said they’re either barely breaking even (47.7%) or losing money (24.8%).
Facing what the NTIA has described as “a perfect storm” of increasing costs and having less people with disposable income attending their events, venues are on a “financial cliff edge”.
Some 23% of the businesses surveyed said they would not last more than a few months, whilst 40.6% said they would go bust within 2-3 months under the current costs they’re facing.
Meanwhile, 80.6% of the businesses surveyed reported a footfall decrease, whilst 82% said they’d seen a decrease in their revenue in the last three months of trading.
When asked what would most help alleviate the situation, the vast majority of those surveyed (84.3%) said a VAT reduction would be needed, whilst two-thirds (66.8%) said a freeze on energy prices, amid an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, is needed.
Of those surveyed, around two-fifths were nightclubs and night time venues (38.9%), with a similar proportion were pubs, bars and restaurants (38.8%); promoters and event organisers, meanwhile, accounted for around a tenth of those surveyed (9.5%).
Two weeks ago, the Music Venue Trust, which helps protect and serve music venues in the UK, said that new plans proposed by Prime Minister Liz Truss didn’t go far enough, and urged the government to “to take further action to ensure a long-term solution.”
Similarly, the results from NTIA’s poll have been accompanied by a message that “it seems all too clear that the Government understates the current crisis faced by businesses within the NTE & Hospitality sectors.”
Michael Kill NTIA’s CEO, has further said: “As the number of failing businesses we engage with escalates on a day to day basis, with many business owners and operators emotionally and mentally drained from over 3 years of uncertainty, questions are quite rightly being asked of the Government and its plans for the sector.
“Time is quickly running out, with hundreds of businesses already unable to hold on, making irreversible decisions about their future, with thousands of jobs lost or at risk.
“We have now reached such a crisis point that only immediate and large-scale interventions can save huge parts of the sector, with substantial cuts to VAT, an extension of business rates relief and a meaningful energy price freeze for Small Medium Enterprise businesses which is affordable.
“On Friday we need a concise and detailed plan from the Government on how they will support businesses through this crisis, nothing less than this is acceptable.”
