How London lost its cultural edge
From nightclubs to the arts, music and cinema, can the city recapture what made it so culturally rich in the past?
I miss London. By which I mean London from the mid-2000s and 2010s. I moved to the capital around 2005 and I’d say that my first decade was pretty great — from a cultural point of view, for someone in their 20s and early 30s.
At the time I didn’t have much of a frame of reference, but now, in 2025, and with the benefit of hindsight and being in my early 40s, it’s clear London had a distinct edge and identity — one which has slowly been eroded over the last two decades. In this piece I explore this decline, looking at the arts, street art and alternative scenes, club culture, and anything else of significance, touching on why this has taken place, and examining whether anything of value has since risen from the ashes.
There are two recent moments which tipped the scales and inspired me to write this one. The first was when I found myself in Leake Street (a tunnel underneath Waterloo station, famed for its street art) taking a few pictures and realised — as I observed the steady flow of tourists gawking at everything, and kids doing ‘graffiti workshops’, gleefully tagging any bit of decent art they could — that this tunnel had almost completely lost its edge as a place that proper artists could meaningfully showcase their work.
I suppose commercial change at Leake Street was inevitable, given Banksy and his friends effectively launched it as a place of cultural interest at the Cans Festival way back in 2008, but we’ll return to this in a bit.
The second reason is the other day I found myself in Hackney Wick, and was staggered at the level of development taking place. Construction is everywhere. Almost no parts of the area are untouched. Give it two or three years and I can confidently say it will be unrecognisable, at least to anyone that remembers it from before, back when it was a bunch of warehouses full of creatives and artists (which wasn’t, technically, that long ago).
Club culture
As my clubbing days are pretty much over, I thought nightclubs might be a good place to start. In 2015, The Guardian did a good breakdown of the reasons why so many clubs have shut in the last couple of decades, citing crime, development, crossrail, expiration of lease, owner fatigue and finances as the main causes. And in 2019 Dazed ran a piece detailing just how many clubs had shut down since 2010, arguing that ‘the UK still doesn’t have an answer to save its nightlife, with noise complaints, boring people and luxury flats eating away at its soul.’
The article mentions how, between 2005 and 2015 it was reported that over 1400 clubs shut in the UK, referencing iconic venues like Madame Jojo’s (which lost its license in 2014 after operating since 1960) and The Coronet (closed in 2017 due to development at Elephant & Castle — this venue had been going since 1879).
In addition, we lost:
Cable, in 2013 — due to development around London Bridge.
Vibe Bar on Brick Lane, in 2014 — which operated for over 20 years and shut due to council restrictions.
Plastic People in Shoreditch, in 2015 — which operated for more than 20 years.
People’s Club on Holloway Road, in 2015 — closed due to resident complaints. This club had operated for more than 30 years.
Ghost Notes in Peckham, in 2019 — a grassroots venue which was helping to boost London’s flourishing jazz scene.
XXL in Southwark, in 2019 — this gay club was thought to be the last ‘bear’ club in London and last queer club in the area. It closed due to development.
And if we go further back, there was also:
The Cross in King’s Cross, in 2007 — due to redevelopment. This club had been operating since 1993.
Turnmills in Clerkenwell, in 2008 — due to its lease expiring and development plans. It had operated for 23 years.
Herbal in Shoreditch, in 2009 — revoked license due to council restrictions.
The Fridge in Brixton, in 2010 — this club opened in 1981 and ran one of the best gay nights in the ‘90s. It had license issues and ultimately went broke.
The End near Tottenham Court Road, in 2009 — which had been going since 1995, and fundamentally changed London, according to DJ Magazine.
Bagley’s/Canvas, in 2012 — due to redevelopment around King’s Cross. The club had been going since the early ‘90s.
There are many more, but you get the idea. In 2023, Novara Media ran an article discussing how London should stop pretending it’s a 24/7 city, mentioning how between 2007 and 2018 half of the city’s clubs and 40% of its live music spaces closed.
And post-Covid-19 another quarter of clubs shut up shop. It’s gotten to the point where you have very little choice past a certain point in the evening, where it’s ‘Fabric, XOYO or bust’, according to one clubber.
The article mentions tough measures from councils revoking licenses and ‘nightlife-specific NIMBYs’ being to blame. Arts and community space, The Jago in Dalston (formerly Passing Clouds), was one such venue which had to fight noise complaints, and ended up taking the council to court in 2024.
Earlier this year Brooklyn-born DJ Pausa wrote about what the decline of London clubs means for music and culture everywhere. In the piece he references rising costs, urban development, regulations and licensing, and changing habits of young people being the drivers behind this change.
Pausa argues that clubs aren’t just places to drink, but they are ‘cultural memory where scenes are born’, and are often safe spaces for queer communities, underground scenes and marginalised voices.
In July, rapper Tinie Tempah wrote a piece in The Standard saying much the same sort of thing, discussing how he’s returning to music with a mission: ‘to save London’s nightlife’. Tempah says ‘the infrastructure that supports London after dark has been left to crumble’, and believes our culture is weaker because of it. He goes on to say a quiet London drives away young creatives and talent and chips away at our very identity. It’s hard to disagree with him on these points.
And in March the BBC published an in-depth piece looking at why Britain has seemingly turned its back on clubbing. In part of the piece the authors argue Britain needs to protect clubs in the way that Germany has, when, in 2016, a German court designated the world-famous Berghain cultural status, giving it the same protections as the city’s opera houses and museums.
Cinema, the arts, music and sex
Moving on… if we look beyond nightclubs, the pattern is much the same.
In 2015, film producer Colin Vaines wrote in The Guardian about a ‘relentless tide of gentrification’ sweeping Soho, and the ‘wholesale demolition of the very things that make Soho unique and memorable’ — namely, sex and the queer scene. A year before that another Guardian piece talked about the slow death of Soho, and said ‘farewell to London’s sleazy heartland.’
The author did go on to say that ‘the general consensus is what is left of the old spirit of Soho has moved to the east and south of London.’
Vice were even more scathing. A 2015 article touched on how the area, through gentrification, has been turned into a ‘gimmicky sex work-themed theme park’. The article dug into how the reality of Soho sex work has disappeared, and how its essence has become a marketing tool. (Incidentally, there’s an episode of Apple TV show Mythic Quest which tackles this, called A Dark Quiet Death, which is a love letter to creativity and its cost).
And earlier this year there were even plans for a new full-nudity strip club, with some residents fearing ‘a return to the seedy red-light district of yore’. Although others thought it ‘represented an opportunity to protect a culturally significant characteristic of Soho.’
In music:
Rock/metal venue The Intrepid Fox, a favourite of Mick Jagger, had a tough time. It closed in 2006 due to development, then reopened in a new spot, and then closed again in 2014 due to Crossrail.
Legendary club, The Astoria, by Tottenham Court Road closed in 2009, also due to Crossrail. It has operated as a music venue since 1985.
In a Guardian article in 2022 called ‘The day the music died?’, architecture critic Rowan Moore wrote about the area around Tottenham Court Road and Denmark Street being where punk was born, and how it’s now the home of a multi-billion ‘super-flexible brand engagement platform’, which he then asked whether it was as awful as it sounds.
Moore went on to say the area was once a place where pretty much all the greats came through, from The Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix and a young David Bowie. The Sex Pistols launched their career there and Bowie camped out in a converted ambulance. Now it’s home to the gaudy monstrosity known as The Outernet, the aforementioned brand platform.
In the world of cinema:
In 2015 the Curzon Soho fought against the relentless Crossrail project to stay open, with campaigners Stephen Fry and Benedict Cumberbatch getting behind it. The plan was for the cinema to relocate for ten years before, apparently, returning. Although Crossrail 2 is currently on hold.
A perhaps even more culturally significant film venue also fighting for its existence, as of the start of this year, is the Prince Charles Cinema.
Earlier this month The Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent wrote about how the venue is in negotiations, due to development plans around Leicester Square. The venue has been operating since 1962 as a theatre, and as a cinema since 1991. Fans include directors Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and John Waters.
The Prince Charles Cinema owners stress that, whilst they don’t plan to leave Leicester Square, they are planning on expanding with a location in east London, near the new V&A East Storehouse. Expansion is good, but if you’re worried about your demise, launching another venue before the old one gets killed off might not be a bad idea — even if you did want to stay.
And in the arts:
If we return to Leake Street tunnel that I mentioned at the start of this piece, The Vaults Festival was forced out in 2023 by the owners, as they wanted to pursue more commercial opportunities.
For those not familiar, The Vaults began in 2012 and was effectively London’s biggest theatre festival, one which ‘kickstarted countless theatre and comedy careers’, according to The Guardian.
After failing to secure investment for a new home, Vault’s co-founder Andy George said: ‘We are grieving what could have been and what will be lost for future generations. I am certain that the impact from the loss of Vault festival will be felt across the entire UK creative sector for years to come.’
The future…
I don’t want to end this piece by saying it’s all doom and gloom (although evidence of the last 20 years does paint a bleak picture). Instead, I want to try and point to some small rays of hope that London can, once again, find its cultural edge. In terms of clubs, last month TimeOut highlighted the 40 best clubs you can currently attend, including MOT (Bermondsey), FOLD (Canning Town) and The Carpet Shop (Peckham).
And remember the gay club, XXL? Next year a new queer venue will open on that site, after Southwark Council stumped up £1.5m to fund one.
There’s also a new 11-person ‘Nightlife task force’, which was launched by the London Mayor earlier this year, and aims to help boost nightlife and save venues from closing. It is led by the co-founder of Fabric nightclub, Cameron Leslie, and also includes the owner of Hackney Wick club, The Colour Factory, Nathanael Williams, and founder of Pxssy Palace, Nadine Noor.
This taskforce effectively replaces the Night Czar, Amy Lame, who was in the position for eight years but seemingly had little effect on the steep decline of London nightlife and culture. Maybe this taskforce can have more impact. They are clearly made up of smart industry people that understand the issues venue owners face.
And just remember what the Beastie Boys said in 1986. You have to fight for your right to party. And also, er, to go to the cinema, see art and theatre, and anything else cultural, particularly after hours, it seems.
Less of a catchy lyric, but you get the idea.
There used to be late-night DJ-focused clubs in places like Holborn (The End), Shoreditch (Plastic People), Dalston (Dance Tunnel and others), and the Whitechapel/Brick Lane area (Rhythm Factory etc.). I enjoyed many of these places but the decline started to set in as council after council determined that night life was "anti social".
It's sad but, at the same time, destruction spurs creation. It's part of the ebb and flow of a city like London. So we started to see clubs and event spaces pop up in more industrial areas less prone to NIMBYism, like Tottenham (The Cause, etc.), South Bermondsey (MOT) or Canning Town (FOLD). Even Hackney Wick and Peckham, gentrified as they are in many respects, have retained their reputation for good dance nights.
I don't think the answer lies in more taskforces and govt-led campaigns but in ordinary Londoners who love music pooling together resources to find venues and set up events. It's not easy being a promoter and putting on nights that will barely break even, but there's people out there doing it and sometimes even operating in a grey zone of legality, which invokes the old-school spirit of raving. (Many of the more commercially-minded clubs, for example, were all too happy to support lockdowns and later on enforce covid passes, but if you knew where to look there were people putting on dance parties in the Hackney Marshes or on canal boats or in hidden basements.)
Thank you for this. I worry for London too. There are still many wonderful and eccentric places, but the pace of change and homogenisation is disturbing.