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Illegal raves fill 'cultural void' say club owners

News imagePA Media Clubbers on dancefloorPA Media
Nightclub owners say they can comply with contact tracing requirements

Scottish nightclub and festival owners have warned that without a roadmap for reopening, closures and job losses will be unavoidable.

The director of Glasgow's Subclub, Mike Grieve, said the country risks creating a "cultural void" which illegal events will take advantage of.

An online campaign has been launched to highlight the lack of indicative dates for these businesses reopening.

The #FreedomtoDance campaign also calls for more funding for the sector.

A survey of more than 300 night-time businesses found that 83% will have to make redundancies when the furlough scheme ends next month.

More than thee-quarters said they expect to lay-off more than half their workforce due to the financial impact of the lockdown.

News imageMike Grieve Sub Club
Mike Grieve has sad it is difficult to see a future for clubs until coronavirus is eliminated

Up to 75,000 jobs are at risk in Scotland according to the survey, published by the Night-Time Industries Association (NITA), a trade body that promotes the night-time industry in the UK.

Andrew Fleming-Brown, managing director of the SWG3 venue in Glasgow, warned the sector was at risk of collapse.

He said: "Nightclubs, events and festivals are a huge part of Scotland's cultural profile and the UK's fifth-biggest industry.

"Without urgent support from the Government, the sector faces financial collapse and thousands of job losses."

News imageSub Club
Clubs across Scotland have lain empty since March

Nightclub and festival owners have launched an online campaign to warn that their industries do not have a road map for reopening or sector-specific funding.

NITA chief executive Michael Kill said: "We have to be given the opportunity to engage with Scottish Government to address the ongoing issues around businesses that are unable to open, potential road map and subsequent support before it's too late, and we see a swathe of businesses go to the wall, and mass redundancies."

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Geoff Ellis, the chief executive of DF Events, said the sector can reopen and comply with the government's contact tracing system.

He added: "The alternative is unregulated parties and illegal raves which provides a greater risk of transmission."

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