Despite recent claims that Lincoln has seen a reduction in its “night time economy”, the owners of Circle Nightclub have launched a new event.
The organisers say they believe there is still a market for weekly events of different types in the city.
Last week, Lincoln University’s Students’ Union released a statement claiming fewer people are going out and spending money on nighttime events such as clubbing.
The claim came after the organisation changed one of their weekly club night events to a monthly one, reporting that they believed it would “fit better in the current environment”.
Kudzai Muzangaza, the president of the Students’ Union, released a statement arguing that fewer people were going out to clubs due to a change in drinking culture.
Muzangaza also said that only 22% of students put “going clubbing” in their top three activities enjoyed with friends, information he claimed to have received from an unnamed “recent independent survey”.
However, despite the end of Anthem’s weekly run, Circle Nightclub launched a new event on Friday, November 16th. The night, called Fruit, attracted over 300 people. That’s a turnout that filled around 70% of their capacity.
Joe Townsley, an organiser of the Fruit club night, said: “We are happy with the turnout as it was our first event.”
He added: “I think people are not going out anymore or less than they have since I have been on the scene. As far as I can see, there has not been much of a change at all.”
Local high-street bar and club Walkabout have also recently argued against claims that people in Lincoln are going out and drinking less.
Bethany White, a senior bar staff member at Walkabout, said: “We’ve seen growth year-on-year. So I wouldn’t really say there has been a negative change in drinking attitudes.”
She continued: “I see different trends at different times of the year, but I wouldn’t say there has been a drop in the overall number of people going on nights out.”
The University’s “Anthem” night – held at the Engine Shed venue – was proposed at the beginning of this academic year (September, 2018) to replace the popular Propaganda event.
The move by the students union has received backlash on social media, with some claiming that the move means those who bought a ‘platinum card’ at the beginning of the year have wasted their money.
Despite this, Muzangaza said: “Feedback for Anthem has been very positive. For me, having been to every Anthem except for one, the experience and production is beyond anything else being offered in the city centre.”