More talking, less dancing: UK’s largest nightclub owner to prioritise bars

The UK’s biggest nightclub operator is looking to prioritise bars over clubs to adjust to changing tastes and priorities of British revellers.

Rekom, a Danish company that operates 36 nightclubs and 12 bars in the UK, has appointed AlixPartners to help the business’ attempts to shift focus. Alix has an established reputation for advising companies on restructures and shifts in strategy.

Peter Marks, the boss of Rekom’s UK arm, said that Alix was only brought in independently to verify plans which Rekom had already drawn up. He claimed poor midweek trading, an income stream that has traditionally been propped up by students, was behind the shift to change priority.

“The student pound is stretched and we have chosen not to open a lot of early week sessions…. The right thing to do is to concentrate our efforts more in the bar market, which has a wider trading window and wider demographic,” Marks told the Sunday Times.

In 2020, Rekom bought Deltic, the operators of the Pryzm and Atik nightclub brands, out of administration for £10m.

By Ali Lyon