Berlin, Buenos Aires and Beirut are buzzing to the break of dawn - but the odds are stacked against the UK capital
“London isn’t even the most 24-hour city in the UK” was one of the kinder comments this week on X after the capital’s night tsar, Amy Lamé, spoke about her role. Even before then, it was haemorrhaging live-music venues and nightclubs. Whenever I surface at the new £1bn Tottenham Court Road station, I mourn the loss of the venues –means even more venues are shutting, unable to meet the demands of higher operating costs as their patrons fall out of love with £8 pints.
But night owls expecting to walk out at 5am and find thumpingly busy streets will more often than not be disappointed.: these were just some of the suggested 24-hour cities when I canvassed X. Spot the odd one out – Berlin doesn’t have the balmy climate that lends itself to late-night living. In cities around the Med, you will often find primary-school-aged children playing outside until midnight on high days and holidays, alongsideWarm cities like Beirut benefit from a late-night economy restaurant for 9pm, being told that this was far too early for “young people”. You’ll find many Spanish restaurants deathly quiet until that time, making it easy to spot the British tourists.this week.
Her party wants to shorten the working day and improve people’s work-life balance, while its opponents – including the Spain by Night hospitality federation – argues that it gives the country a big tourist draw. You only need to visit Magaluf,So, can London hope to compete on the world stage of late-night living? It’s unlikely. No amount of strategy and investment can change the fact that the