Last week was a bad week for London nightlife. Fabric has closed its doors for the last time after Islington council revoked its licence. Well, actually, scratch that – it’s been a bad year for London nightlife. Lights are going out all over town in what were once the iconic late night haunts of youth.
There is much outrage about club closures. The end of Fabric has been taken particularly badly, in part because of the circumstances in which it has been shut down (drug-related deaths and council funding) and in part because it was one of the few London clubs left which had a genuine and long history having first opened its doors in 1999. And, while nobody of sound mind would argue that any death in a nightclub as a result of drug taking is somehow acceptable or negligible, many feel strongly that 6 deaths in Fabric's history in the context of the millions of people who attended the club is not grounds for closure.
As London increasingly becomes a property developer’s playground, characterized by shiny new builds and shops which sell things nobody can afford, the general feeling is that spaces where the young can go to let loose, hook up and meet up with friends are rapidly diminishing. When big DJs come to the UK where will they play now? Manchester, perhaps. There are no true superclubs left in London.
Meanwhile, in Germany a very different story is unfolding. A German court has just ruled that Berghain, one of Berlin’s most iconic nightclubs, does more than merely provide entertainment and should therefore be classified as a cultural institution which produces work of cultural significance and not merely an entertainment institution.
As German publication Der Spiegel reportsthis means that the nightclub will now be able to pay a lower rate of tax at 12%, the same paid by classical music venues.
Berghain opened in 2004, over a decade ago. Since then the area it stands in has changed rapidly and yet, the club still stands. This ruling is being held as a landmark case.
As part of the club’s appeal they commissioned a report by Tobias Rapp, a journalist and author who has written a book about Berlin’s club culture called Lost and Sound: Techno, Berlin and the Easyjetset. He argued that the majority of people who go to Berghain do so for the music, and made the case that DJs are comparable to the conductors of orchestras.
It’s no secret that many of us ‘young people’ already hop on a cheap flight to Berlin every now and then to go clubbing. Who could blame us? Pre-Brexit at least the appeal of a £30 Ryanair sale return need only be explained by a quick browse of the cost of train tickets back home.
Berlin’s clubs are institutions - world famous and internationally recognised culture hubs. If Berlin is the centre of techno then Berghain is its beating heart, famed for its strict will they/won’t they door policy and particularly heavy brand of techno which reverberates aggressively around the disused power station which houses the club. It seems that, unlike London’s councillors, German authorities recognise what they have.
London, like Berlin, has an important and historic relationship with dance music. Going out is here has always been about more than getting wasted. London has nurtured some of the greatest DJs and musicians – this is the home of garage, grime, house, drum and bass and has played host to representatives of other scenes from across the world. Clubs aren’t just places where you go to lose yourself or find someone else, they’re important sites of cultural exchange and innovation. To ignore that is to dismiss a huge part of our city’s heritage.
It’s hard not to see the timing of the newly designated ‘high culture’ status awarded to Berghain as symbolic at best or, at worst, ironic. As Fabric closes for good other cultural institutions, such as Peckham’s Canavan’s Pool Club, face threats from developers. The figures speak for themselves: nearly half of the UK’s nightclubs have shut their doors in the last decade.
Just as the Night Tube finally arrives in London our iconic night time venues are closing, where will young Brits go now? Berlin, for as long as we can go there without needing a visa. When The Debrief spoke to the now Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, during his election campaign he vowed to protect London's nightlife. He's due to appoint a Night Czar to oversee 'London's night time economy' shortly, but will there be anything left to protect?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.