Have Your Say Today - Economy - Have Your Say: Night Time Strategy Wandsworth

Home

Economy

1/2

Home >  Introduction  >  Vision > Economy 

One of the key aspects of this Strategy is to acknowledge that the night time economy is changing, and has been for some time. 


Research undertaken by the GLA found that 1.6 million Londoners work in the night time in a range of industries, including healthcare and deliveries (not just hospitality), which is over a third of the capital’s workforce. 65% of Londoners are active at night, working, socialising, running personal errands, attending cultural activities and playing sport, requiring a range of uses and services around this. 


Wandsworth is estimated to have a night time workforce of 112,000.  Based on estimates for the size of London’s Night Time Economy, this suggests that of the borough is worth at least £1bn per annum (around 10% of the borough’s Gross Value Added). People of all ages now want a wider variety of uses, affordability, and more than just bars and clubs to attract them to the borough’s high streets. 


As our high streets evolve post Covid-19 Pandemic, our aspiration is to offer diversity in the high street experience during the night time, whilst supporting our existing businesses that make the night time what it is.

More uses

  • You want more culture, community facilities, music venues and restaurants in the night time
  • Some people want more late night pubs in areas where this is lacking 
  • Live events and licensing difficult as they come with a lot of challenges but need to support London’s music scene and young up-and-coming artists. Venues need to be recognised for their efforts rather than restricted.
  • More creative, flexible community events / spaces are needed
  • Later opening hours in quiet places could generate more evening activity and create a flood of light onto pavement at no extra cost or design
  • Some residents do not want more noise generating uses at night. The night should not just be about drinking alcohol

Working together, creatively

  • Existing venues and bars should operate as more than just one use i.e if there is no performance in the evening their bars could still be open
  • Support businesses outside of hospitality too, need a balanced approach
  • There are currently no LGBTQI+ venues in Wandsworth and it is hard to gauge which venues are LGBTQI+ friendly
  • Licensing needs to be managed carefully to ensure late night spots are placed in the most appropriate places
  • There should be exceptions for opening hours during special events, i.e during Ramadan shops stay open until 1am in Whitechapel and similar exceptions should be made in Wandsworth
  • You want to know what cultural and live events are happening at night
  • There needs to be a space for people, including old and young people, to continue conversations and share ideas around place
  • Pedestrianisation was welcomed by many, but businesses outside of pedestrianised zones felt left out and would like to be included in creative solutions for attracting footfall too

Use of outdoor spaces

  • Parks could be used for more family orientated events i.e outdoor cinema. This would bring early evening trade into areas, benefitting surrounding businesses (Battersea Park already does this). 
  • Green spaces are good places to seed the arts and attract young people

Rising bills

  • Cost of eating out has risen and there is a real concern for the hospitality industry. Restaurants have seen more of a reduction in customer numbers than pubs
  • Could try to bring people out on cold evenings so they do not need to have heating on

Working together, creatively

  • Council to investigate, in the context of the Arts and Culture Strategy, how the creative economy can tie into night-time economy ambitions
  • The Council to work together with existing cultural institutions and festivals to understand how it can promote and assist them in continuing to thrive during the evening and late night
  • The Council to engage town centre BIDs and local business associations on promoting the night-time economy in their local areas, for example to deliver events or offers, such as a paint shop working with a furniture shop to deliver an interior design night
  • Respond to the feedback of Queer Wandsworth on a variety of issues,including a new LGBTQI+ venue in the borough, encourage venues to present rainbow flags, and celebrate the LGBTQI+ community
  • Promote safe spaces for women, young people and anyone else that feels threatened when using the night
  • Consult residents about new night-time uses and provide clarity on how to complain about noise

New, affordable and flexible spaces

  • Work with anchor cultural venues and bars to promote and revitalise their night-time offer with local and London talent. This could be through introducing or expanding live music and performance such as comedy, theatre or poetry
  • Daytime businesses and institutions such as schools to experiment with ‘second life’ evening and night-time activities
  • Work with businesses and other organisations to introduce more evening and night-time uses, including cafes and community hubs that are not solely based around drinking alcohol
  • Avoid clusters of gambling venues in areas where some people may be at significant risk of gambling related harm
  • Encourage all businesses, venues and events to be accessible and inclusive to all – LGBTQI+, people with disabilities, people of all ethnicities, gender and age
  • Rethink workspace provision now that workspace is in the same use class as retail, allowing for mixed retail and workspace units without requiring planning consent. This could activate high streets by those requiring desk / studio space at night
  • Promote sustainable, ethical goods at night such as late opening repair shops, vegetable box pick-up spots and healthy takeaway establishments

Night workers

  • Encourage businesses to provide good working practices, including London Living Wage, and support for staff to entice and retain workers in the hospitality and gig economy sectors
  • Engage with employers to ensure they consider the needs of staff travelling during night-time hours and make provision for the safety of employee journeys in out-of-office hours
  • Support businesses to recruit to the night-time workforce for example through job fairs at local universities, community spaces and youth clubs
  • Work with night-time employers to provide information on legal and mental health services for night shift workers, collaborating with initiatives such as Night Club
  • Work with town centre BIDs to promote better night worker conditions and initiatives, like special discounts for night workers at specified businesses

Digital Inclusivity

  • An easy-to-use online calendar showing day and night activities for each town centre, promoted across the borough through a strong visual campaign. Though various streams do already exist such as wandsworthart.com, these should be centralised, with print-out alternatives too.

Data collection and incentives

  • Comprehensive data on town and local centres collected for businesses to understand where later opening hours could work best
  • Work with local businesses to encourage later opening times trials

Night Club

Night Club is a unique initiative that brings sleep researchers together with shift workers and employers to create a better and healthier experience of working at night - including by delivering engaging evidence-based training to staff. More information can be found at www.night-club.org



CLICK ON EACH CATEGORY BELOW TO READ OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ECONOMY

0 proposal

This engagement phase has finished

Some people making comments

...

A person happy and a comment icon

...