Can we save Glasgow’s club scene?

Between March 2020 and December 2024, the number of evening venues in Glasgow dropped from 375 to 351. Each closure brought with it more strain on the people who earn their living in the industry.

People begin to arrive for the Save the Scene panel

Inside the Pyramid at Anderston on a sunny April evening, prominent figures in Glasgow’s nightlife scene have gathered for a panel on the future of the industry. There’s Mike Grieve, managing director of the iconic Sub Club. Beside him sits Dave Clarke, a director of Some Records, Slam Events and Riverside Festival. Light and sound technician Jack Gidney, Alana Hepburn from Live Promotions and Lloyd Ledingham from Sofar Sounds and Lloyd’s House join them at the table.

Covid “torpedoed” the music industry in Glasgow, Sam Clayton tells me. We meet ahead of the Save The Scene panel at Henry’s in the Southside to discuss the crisis. The panel, which he has organised alongside Colm Fletcher for the pair’s music business course at the University of the Highlands and Islands, has gained immense traction. A symptom of the desperation felt by those involved in the scene.

Sauchiehall Street, once the beating heart of the city’s nightlife, has become a sore reminder of the crisis in the industry. Victoria’s nightclub was the first to go. On a March morning in 2018, a major fire engulfed the building, ripping through the floors of the nightclub and the shop below. More than 120 firefighters battled the blaze over five days before it was finally extinguished.