UK Nightclub Cloakroom Fees Surge From £2 to £15 This Decade
Coat and bag storage at UK venues has jumped sharply, with some charging £15 or more — far outpacing general price inflation.
What once cost a pound or two at the cloakroom of a British nightclub or concert hall has quietly become one of the steeper line items on a night out. Across the UK, venues are now charging anywhere from £9 to £15 to store a coat or bag, a shift that has outpaced the broader rise in consumer prices and left many patrons questioning why.
The scale of the increase is visible at some of the country's most prominent entertainment spaces. London's Outernet Live venue in Soho charges £11 for a large locker, while east London nightclub Fold asks £9 — and bills customers again if they need to retrieve an item mid-event. At Drumsheds, billed as the UK's largest nightclub and located in north London, locker fees reach £13.20, though that rate covers unlimited re-entry to the locker during the same visit.
Read more UK Diesel Prices Hold Near £2 a Litre Despite Oil Price Drop →
Outside the capital, the pattern holds. Manchester's Co-op Live Arena operates a dedicated bag storage facility where large bags cost £15. The Warehouse Project, also in Manchester, directs large-bag holders to a nearby Premier Inn, where lockers run £11.99. In Edinburgh, storage near the 3,000-capacity Playhouse goes for £9.99, and Testbed in Leeds charges £9.90.
The rapid normalization of double-digit cloakroom fees reflects a confluence of pressures on live entertainment operators, including higher staffing costs, insurance requirements, and the broader post-pandemic recalibration of venue economics. What was once a minor ancillary service has evolved into a meaningful revenue stream — or at minimum, a cost-recovery mechanism — for venues already navigating thin margins on ticket sales and bar revenue.
Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.
