The financial problems hitting troubled pub group Revolution may be down to Gen Z students cutting back on alcohol and late night drinking.
Analysis in The Telegraph today suggest that the night-time economy is being hit because young people are also drinking less and going home earlier for lifestyle reasons.
Revolution Bars Group suspended its shares yesterday due to the company being “unable” to publish interim results.
Shares in the troubled owner of 58 premium bars had been trading at the rock bottom price of 1.2p per share at the end of last week.
Last week, the London-listed leisure company, which has a Revolution Bar on Belmont Street in Aberdeen, plus a Revolucion de Cuba in The Academy, revealed plans to close a quarter of its venues.
It said a restructuring or partial sale of the business is imminent naming entrepreneur and investor Luke Johnson, the former owner of Pizza Express, as a key player.
The crisis at the business comes after the British nightclub industry was battered by a combination of rising energy costs and the cost of living crisis. Many late night businesses were already struggling to recover from pandemic lockdowns, which also hammered trading.
As well as cost pressures, young people are also drinking less and going home earlier for lifestyle reasons. Around a third of people aged 18-24 currently do not drink alcohol at all, according to consumer research group Mintel, while those that do are treating it more as an occasional treat.
Gen Z are concerned about the emotional impact of drinking and mental health effects, according to Mintel.
Revolution’s chief executive, Rob Pitcher, said in a previous trading update that the rising cost of living had disproportionately affected students and young people who would previously have flocked to its bars.
As well as cost pressures, young people are also drinking less and going home earlier for lifestyle reasons.
This combination of pressures has led to widespread venue, pub and club closures. Around two UK nightclubs closed their doors permanently every week from March 2020 to December 2023, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), amounting to the loss of almost a third of the country’s clubs.