Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, has called for greater support for Newcastle’s night-time economy in a debate held in Parliament.
Newcastle’s famous nightlife is core to our City’s character and its appeal to tourists and students. If we don’t support venues during this pandemic we will lose part of our history, character and some of what makes Newcastle great.
Speaking in a Westminster Hall Petitions Debate Catherine said:
“Newcastle has a globally renowned night-time economy, and our nightlife is a big attraction for locals, for tourists and for prospective students.
“These are not dispensable businesses that we can allow to wither and die during this pandemic. We cannot assume that we’ll just resume to normal business and they’ll be replaced with shiny new venues and all will be well. If these businesses don’t survive the pandemic, we’ll be losing our City’s character, part of our history.
“I want the government to look at building in flexibility into the Local Restrictions Support Grant, the night-time economy is in crisis and we know that not every business will survive but local authorities have the local knowledge and intelligence to be able to know where that money can be best spent.
“People don’t expect to go back dancing in nightclubs straightaway, but they do want them to still be standing when they can go and celebrate when this pandemic is over.”
You can listen to Catherine’s contribution to the debate here:
The debate was called by Parliament’s Petitions Committee, which Catherine chairs, after a petition on nightclubs and a petition on weddings both reached over 100,000 signatures.