Regulation and Racial Differentiation in the Construction of Night-time Economies: A London Case Study

Abstract

The clubs and bars of contemporary nightlife are held by supporters in the cultural industries and critics in social policy to be a zone of transgression where the state is powerless to intervene. However, closer inspection of the processes by which nightlife is regulated and incorporated into economic development strategies indicates a more differential approach to social control. Far from being deregulated, nightlife is still largely understood as a 'social problem' to be contained by law, policy and policing. However, the forms in which strategies of regulation are being redefined indicate renewed concerns by policy-makers with acceptable and unacceptable cultures. The duel impact of economic development strategies and licensing policies has been to reinforce particular cultural forms in nightlife spaces at the expense of others. This paper explores findings from a London case study and will attempt to pinpoint the ways in which the practices of economic development and licensing have thrown up barriers to cultural expression and racial diversity being realised in the city spaces of the night. It will argue that, far from being a solution to the perceived problems of the 'night-time economy', regulatory strategies reinforce the notion of nightlife as consumption against that of experimental and racially diverse cultures.

Beyond night-time economy: Affective atmospheres of the urban night

“…Furthermore, engagement with debates about urban illumination (Edensor, 2012) and requests for consideration of a broader range of actors in the night (Eldridge and Roberts, 2013) indicate a desire for a continued evolution in our understanding of urban nights. Still, social scientists have so far only begun to touch upon the ways in which experience of the urban night is differentiated by gender (Waitt et al, 2011), religion , race (Talbot, 2004) and other segmentations. We have also failed to integrate studies of sexuality with the urban night, despite some of the obvious connections (Hubbard, 2005).…”

Regulating the other side: disorder, exclusion and subcultural closure in the night-time economy

“…As research by Hollands (2002, 2003), Talbot (2004) and Böse (2005) has shown in different contexts, the contemporary boundaries of regulatory subjectivity are entwined with beliefs about commercial viability and its assumed relationship to orderly spaces. The regulation of licensing therefore coalesces with cultural regeneration strategies to ultimately favour chain bars over independent or alternative spaces, or white controlled spaces over those owned by black licensees, and so on in a complex process that intertwines moral norms and cultural habits 8 with commercial development.…”

“…Anecdotal information 8 suggests that people prioritise safety over experimentation in the choice of venue, hence the popularity of the predictable 'All Bar One' with its open windows with clear visibility and profemale policies such as handbag clips and policies aimed at breaking up large groups of men at the bar. Such choices extend to location, surveillance strategies and clientele and can significantly affect the commercial success of a venue (Sparks et al 2001, Talbot 2004. A pub makeover, with designer wallpaper, brown and cream design, mirrors, vases, candles and a food menu, attracts middle-class money as quickly as it alienates the 'other'.…”

“…A pub makeover, with designer wallpaper, brown and cream design, mirrors, vases, candles and a food menu, attracts middle-class money as quickly as it alienates the 'other'. Fear also has been understood to affect cultural and entertainment choices according to ethnicity (Back, Crabbe & Solomos 2001, Talbot 2004). …”

Away from prying eyes? The urban geographies of `adult entertainment'

“…The latter, for example, is currently deemed integral to the cultivation of creative, profitable night-time economies but continues to be associated with intoxicated violence, with distinctions thus made between 'horizontal' drinking and civilized café culture (one the one hand) and the spaces of 'vertical' drinking (on the other). The regulatory orientation towards café style (and possibly family-oriented) spaces of alcohol consumption is thus an oft-noted trend, with the general enthusiasm to construct vibrant and vital 24-hour cities accompanied by countervailing tendencies to 'rein in' sites promoting binge-drinking or excessive consumption (Talbot 2004;Chatterton and Hollands 2003;Dixon et al 2006). Hobbs et al (2003, 95) argue 'the marriage of leisure and commerce within after-dark postindustrial urban centres is a union consummated by de-regulatory pragmatism and ordained via implicit governmental sanction and an expectation of righteous consumption'.…”