No bouncer? No entry

It’s been a torrid couple of years for the hospitality industry, especially late-night venues like bars and clubs. Though pubs and restaurants also struggled during the pandemic, they were, at points, still allowed to trade. Bars and nightclubs didn’t have this luxury, and many had to turn their venues into makeshift pubs and takeaways in order to survive.

These businesses hoped 2022 would be the year they got back on track. They hoped that the money many people saved during the pandemic would be spent on socialising in the evening, on weekends and weekdays.

Weekends are certainly busier. I don’t remember Sheffield being anywhere near as crowded as it has become, pre-pandemic. Weekdays, however, are nowhere near as populated. I remember evenings during the week being incredibly busy, with students taking advantage of cheaper prices, but this isn’t the case now. Some nightclubs have chosen not to open at all during the week, and others have opened but with reduced capacity. The reason doesn’t necessarily appear to be a lack of custom but a lack of staff; in particular, bouncers.

According to the Night-Time Industries Association, three-quarters of bars, pubs and clubs are short of security staff. It's been suggested that the reason behind the lack of bouncers is down to the large number of alternative jobs currently available. Security roles are usually filled through the jobseekers’ scheme but lots of different jobs have been offered to these candidates recently—roles with better terms than nightclubs can afford to give. Bouncers, of course, are required to work anti-social hours, which doesn’t suit everyone. Those on jobseekers with a young family, for example, will undoubtably choose a job with more sociable hours than that of a bouncer.