From White City to Leytonstone, from Brixton to Walthamstow London’s suburban outposts are now connected through the night. Ravers, bankers and key workers will fill carriages. People returning from celebrations, arguments, break ups, make ups and hook ups will now be able to bypass their Uber account and travel by tube.
Until now London’s tube timetable has punctuated our late night and early morning lives, telling us when it’s time to leave the bar, call it a day on the night out or leave a party in South to continue things back East.
No more will Londoners down drinks in haste and rush for the last train, no more falling asleep on the night bus having missed your connection only to wake up somewhere outside of Hainault, no more will Londoners make snap decisions and leave bars with somebody they barely know, no more first tube 5am exodus, no more will we lose ourselves in the night. Well, actually, some traditions will likely endure.
From midnight tonight trains will run on the Victoria and Central lines every 10 minutes on Fridays and Saturdays.
TfL expect that the service will add £6.4bn to the London economy by 2030 and create 500,000 jobs.
Three years in the making and the Night Tube has finally arrived in London. It was announced in an era we now refer to as BU (Before Uber). The taxi app has made calling a cab easier and cheaper than ever, one can’t help but wonder what this city would look like if we had always had 24-hour transport like some of our European counterparts. Would other peoples’ conversations and chance encounters be the mainstay of late night commutes in place of the comforting soundtrack of your Uber driver’s mainline to Magic FM?
You might also wonder where exactly the night tube will be taking people, other than into the belly of the capitalist beast as people work around the clock to maintain ‘the system’.
In 2005 the UK had 3,144 clubs. In 2015 there were only 1,733 and counting. The number of places where you can lose, find and lose yourself again is dwindling at an alarming rate. In the last few weeks alone Fabric’s license has been suspended, its future hanging in the balance, Dalston’s Dance Tunnelclosed its doors for the last time and Haggerston’s Passing Clouds was seized my bailiffs. These venues join a long list of spaces which once provided a place to drink and dance for people of all sexualities, genders and musical persuasions.
Light in clubs across the city are slowly but surely being snuffed out.
The Debrief spoke to The Night Time Industries Associationahead of tonight’s first night tube journey. This will ‘increase accessibility and speed of travel’ the NTIA’s communications spokesperson Thomas Van Berckel said, ‘it’s going to make it safer and quicker for people to get home at night as opposed to two or three night buses which many people would rather go home early than take. It’s going to civilise night travel. Many other cities have had 24-hour travel for some time.’
Do they hope that this will have a positive impact on London nightlife? Could it save the city’s nightclubs? ‘I hope it will have a positive impact on night life. It could both increase flow in to the centre of the city and out to other parts of London, the suburbs. We’re hoping it will have a positive impact on the types of venue that we have in London.’
He added, ‘it’s really frustrating. Last week there were a number of closures of London nightclubs – it’s important that we have an environment which allows us to have different types of venues.’
The NTIA praised Sadiq Khan, ‘he’s supported The Night Club Commission. He’s said there will be a Night Czar and as we understand it they will be announced shortly.’
The Mayor of London is due to appoint a Night Czar to oversee London’s nightlife and protect London’s clubs in the autumn. This was a manifesto promise.
You might also be interested in:
Londoners: Here Are 4 Ways That The Night Tube Is Going To Change Your Life
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.