One of new London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan's first clear actions will be to appoint a 'night mayor' as part of an effort to counteract the issues of music venues and clubs being shut down at an alarming rate in the city.

Since the beginning of Boris' Johnson's reign in 2008, London has lost a third of its music venues and the number of clubs across the whole country has dropped from 3,144 in 2005 down to 1,733 last year. To battle against this, Khan will elect Night Mayor, as pioneered in Amsterdam, to represent nightlife culture and business at London’s council meetings.

Khan plans also to shift the cost of soundproofing onto new housing developers to keep small independent bars and clubs from going under when flats are built nearby, and he plans to make it more difficult for developers to shut down and build over heritage venues and important cultural sites. Similar to what we saw recently with the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

“I don’t want young and creative Londoners abandoning our city to head to Amsterdam, to Berlin, to Prague where clubs are supported and allowed to flourish,” Khan told Dazed and Confused in a new interview. “I want them to be able to celebrate what they love in the city that they love, rather than punish them or force their activities underground or abroad.”