“Act Before It’s Lost”: NTIA Demands Government Action to Protect Nightlife Heritage

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) is urging the Government to strengthen protection for culturally significant venues and recognise the intangible cultural heritage they sustain, following its response to the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on protecting built heritage.

The Committee’s inquiry highlighted gaps in protection for buildings valued for their cultural and social importance, including nightclubs, grassroots music venues and LGBTQ+ spaces. Drawing on evidence from NTIA CEO Michael Kill, it recommended processes to identify and protect these spaces alongside buildings of architectural significance.

NTIA argues that effective protection must also recognise intangible cultural assets: the music, creative practices, traditions, community knowledge and collective memories associated with these venues.

Preserving a building’s exterior alone cannot safeguard the culture created and sustained within it.

The Committee also called for a “reuse first” approach and a dedicated scheme to bring vacant historic buildings back into residential use. According to the Committee’s announcement, the Government rejected the suggestion that reuse should always take priority over new construction and ruled out a specific heritage-to-housing scheme.

NTIA is calling for clear commitments on planning protection, accessible funding and support for sustainable cultural use, with tangible and intangible heritage considered together.

Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, said:
“The Committee is right to demand greater ambition. The Government’s response, as outlined today, falls short of the practical action needed to secure the future of our built and cultural heritage.

“For the night time economy, this is about the clubs, grassroots music venues and LGBTQ+ spaces where generations have built communities, launched careers and shaped British culture. Protecting that heritage means protecting the cultural activity within these buildings, alongside the buildings themselves.

“We must also recognise the intangible cultural assets these places sustain: musical movements, DJ and performance traditions, community histories, creative skills and the knowledge passed between generations. These are living expressions of our cultural identity, and their significance must carry weight in decisions about a venue’s future.

“You can preserve a façade and still erase a place’s cultural identity. If the community is displaced, the music stops and the venue’s cultural purpose disappears, retaining the building alone will not protect that heritage.

“The Committee recognised these concerns, drawing directly on NTIA’s evidence. Ministers must now set out how cultural and social significance will carry greater weight in planning decisions, how funding will become accessible to independent operators, and how communities can intervene before valued spaces are lost. This must include ways for communities to identify and document their intangible heritage, with practical support to keep it alive.

“Bringing vacant historic buildings back into use deserves serious support, including for cultural and night time uses. Where housing is introduced alongside established venues, developments must take responsibility for managing their impact, including sound insulation, so that regeneration supports existing cultural life.

“We need clear commitments, named responsibility and a timetable for delivery. Every venue lost risks taking an irreplaceable part of our cultural identity with it. Government must act while there is still something to protect.”