Nightlife Czar blames 'social media embarrassment' for the sharp decline in young people drinking on nights out

14 May 2024, 15:26 | Updated: 14 May 2024, 15:30

Social media is to blame for the sharp decline in young people drinking on nights out, Manchester's 'Night Czar' has claimed.

Sacha Lord, the Night Life Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, attributed the decline in drinking among British youngsters on nights out to an increase in camera phones and potential embarrassment.

Lord, who co-founded Parklife festival and music venue The Warehouse Project, was appointed to the role by Andy Burnham in 2018.

The role was created to promote the nightlife in cities across the UK, with Lord highlighting that priorities among today's teenagers and twenty-somethings is more often than not "how you look" and "what you're wearing".

Now, Lord, 52, has claimed that young drinkers don't want to be seen with "ketchup down your chin when you've had a kebab at the end of the night".

He instead suggested that binge drinking on nights out has been replaced by publicising clothes purchases on social media.

He added that gym sessions are the "new going out".

Recent months have seen Londoner's take aim at the concept, posting images of the capital's dead nightlife to social media in a bid to embarrass the Mayor of London under the hashtag #LameLondon.

It came as stats revealed that around 1,110 bars and clubs had shut in London since Covid, with countless others under threat from housing developers, sky-rocketing costs and curtailed drinking hours.

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Mr Lord made the comments on the Loose Ends podcast, explaining: "An interesting stat coming out now is that one out of five young people under the age of 25 don't drink alcohol. It's amazing.

"When I think back to what I was doing at 17 on a park bench and a bottle of Diamond White... and look at it now.

"I think it's a couple of things; I think people's socialising has changed coming out of Covid.

"Let's not forget a lot of those poor young people were locked up for two years. But I also think social media plays a huge part of this.

"The days of going to nightclubs and then ending up with ketchup down your chin when you've had a kebab at the end of the night; no one wants those pictures on social media anymore.

He added: "It's about how you look, what you're wearing, people are going to the gym more, they're eating healthier. This is the new going out."