The slow death of 24-hour London

Expensive pints, mass pub and club closures, licensing restrictions and poor late-night transport options are killing London's buzz, says El Hunt - when did the capital stop being fun after dark?

- El Hunt

When was the last time you did a proper all-nighter in London? With £7 pints, rising ticket prices, mass club closures, licensing restrictions, sluggish night buses, noise complaints, and venue curfews, hunting down a place to party until sunrise feels like an increasingly impossible pursuit.

And worse still, there's not even anywhere left to grab a commiseratory bite to eat afterward.

It's no wonder that so many Londoners were puzzled and annoyed when the Mayor Sadiq Khan and the city's night czar Amy Lamé both claimed that the capital was leading the way as a 24-hour economy.

In an interview with BBC Politics London, Lamé, who has been responsible for promoting and safeguarding the city's nightlife alongside Khan since 2016, in exchange for a £120,000 salary, insisted that she was "helping London thrive as a 24-hour city" after inheriting an "absolute mess" from previous mayor Boris Johnson.

Citing one example of progress, she pointed to the roll-out of Night Time Enterprise Zones in Bromley, Woolwich and Vauxhall, which have led to an increased high street footfall after 6pm.

Look, it's a good start, but having the freedom to purchase a cheeky Greggs steak bake ready for the last train home is hardly on a par with stumbling out of Berlin's Berghain nightclub as the dawn chorus sounds, and immediately ambling off to an all-night restaurant for a restorative slap-up meal.

Her remarks haven't gone down well, to say the least. This may be because, despite the unwavering optimism of the Mayor's office, the reality of the situation is far gloomier.

Forty-six London pubs went under in just six months last year the fastest rate of closures in the whole of the UK-according to analysis by Altus Group.

While Berlin is also struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, the nightlife sector brought in €1.7 billion to the city's economy during its 2018 boom.