Is Tinder killing off pubs and clubs?

Tinder is to blame for the decline of live music venues with people no longer going to pubs to “pick up” and instead taking first dates on “chic dining experiences”, believes one Australian music promoter.

Empty glasses on bar table

According to one bar owner in Melbourne the dating app is responsible for the decline in footfall to pubs, clubs and live music venues, with people no longer choosing to meet people for a drink in bars, and instead swiping right and making first contact online.

Compounding the apps impact, people also now prefer to arrange first dates at upscale restaurants rather than “rowdy live music” venues.

In a Facebook post, the owner of Cherry Bar in Melbourne, a live music venue, shared a conversation with a music promoter, which raised an interesting theory that it was Tinder that was causing the decline of live music venues, including pubs and clubs, in cities around the world

“We were discussing the fact that 2015 was a tough year. I said that I thought the closing of The Palace and the diabolical Australian Dollar leading to far fewer International Tours had genuinely effected numbers at Cherry, especially on the non-weekend nights. But then he posed a theory I had never heard before.

‘You’ve forgotten the most important factor of all. Tinder has destroyed the live music and pub scene. First, look at Grinder and the gay scene. Grindr came two years before Tinder. Commercial Road Prahran used to be a thriving late night gay hot spot. Now, it’s dead as a door nail. It’s over. Now we are seeing the same thing with Tinder. This is how young people “pick up” these days. I see them in the office. They’re on it all the time. They’re not going out to clubs and pubs to pick up anymore. They’re just picking up their phones.

“Tinder is killing off clubs and pubs all over Melbourne and Australia. And when they take their dates out for the first time, they try to impress them with some chic dining experience, rather than a rowdy live music experience. I’m telling you, Tinder has alot to answer for. It’s bleak out their for club owners. These are dark and challenging times. We need to get young people off their phones and back into our bars to actually socialise or we’re all going to go out of business.’ Mind blown.”

The post attracted a lot of attention with one user Zian Silverwolf calling Tinder’s impact on the pub and club scene a “brilliant observation”.

“One of the biggest promotional tools in nightclubs has always been to attract women first – if the option for meeting people has moved to the safety zone of virtual reality, entertainment clubs are going to need a different take on their position in social agenda”, he said.

Others blamed the rising cost of living and decrease in disposable income as the cause of declining numbers at pubs and clubs.

Earlier this month a report by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), which represents British nightclubs, revealed that the number of clubs operating in the UK has fallen from 3,144 in 2005 to 1,733 in 2015. That means that half of the UK’s late-night venues have closed in the last 10 years, suggesting the industry to be in terminal decline.

The ALMR said these figures were a result of “overly restrictive planning laws and tax levies” that have unfairly hit the late-night hospitality sector.