Council seeks new officer to boost Glasgow's nightlife

Glasgow City Council is advertising for a new role aimed at boosting the city's nightlife.

The senior officer for night-time economy will be tasked with supporting clubs, pubs, restaurants and live music venues at a time when the industry is facing a number of challenges.

Whoever gets the job will be expected to work with the newly established night-time economy commission and look at improving public safety, transport connectivity and the overall experience at night for people in the city.

The successful candidate can expect to be paid a salary of between £55,000 and £64,300.

Industry bodies have previously called for Scotland to have a government minister devoted to the country's nightlife, taking inspiration from states in Australia that implemented a similar strategy.

Mike Grieve, who owns Glasgow's famous Sub Club in Glasgow, previously said the country was "behind the curve" in supporting the sector.

Grieve leads the the night-time economy commission, which also includes representatives from gig promoters DF Concerts, sport and culture body Glasgow Life, licensing lawyers and members of sectoral organisations like the Music Venues Trust.

"Glasgow already has the venues, talent and creativity that make it one of the UK's great night-time destinations," said Grieve.

"As the UK's first Unesco City of Music, the city benefits from an enviable heritage which provides the ideal platform to raise the bar even higher on our famed hospitality and nightlife.

"This role is an opportunity to bring people together, tackle long-standing challenges and help make Glasgow an even better place to work, perform, visit and enjoy after dark."

Glasgow City Council says the successful candidate is expected to have previously worked in the night-time economy or a related field, such as hospitality, culture or events.

Grieve previously said the younger generation had not grown into going clubbing or going out in the city in the the way previous generations had, due to the various lockdowns during the Covid pandemic.

This led to a variety of venues and businesses across the sector seeing a decline in revenue.

In recent years the likes of the city's famous Shed nightclub and numerous restaurants have been forced to close.

Even the Garage nightclub, which at one stage was open every night of the year, has cut back its opening hours.

It was put up for sale last month.

Councillor Angus Millar, the co-chair of the cross-sectoral city centre taskforce, said the new post was a "genuinely exciting and generational opportunity" to impact the future of Glasgow's nightlife.

He added: "The role demands knowledge and experience of how both the night-time economy and local government work and solid ideas of how they can work together better.

"This is a hugely attractive and influential post which, I'm sure, will trigger interest from across Scotland and further afield."