NIGHT CLUB LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18943, 14 February 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

NIGHT CLUB LIFE.

STORY FROM THE IN.SIDK . MANAGERESS' EXPERIENCES. j £4OOO PAID IN PINKS. J ALLEGATIONS OF BLACKMAIL, i \ story of night club life in Lett don I . written by Mrs. K. E. Merrick, who was 1 in the business for some years, has \brjen . published by the Sunday News. She 1 makes some astonishing statements regarding the necessary capital, the heavw fines incurred, and sums paid to mtimida°Mrs. Merrick says:—"! went into the night club business to make money. Mv ■ experienco has shown me that a night . club can be a very good commercial pro- j position, but those who imagine that 1 ] have made a fortune out of the business are sadly mistaken. I have been- very unlucky. For a night club to be a big financial success it is essential that it should be.free from police interference for long periods, but the authorities have • never left me alone. i "I seem to have been a marked woman ever since I went into night club life. , My clubs have been continually raided. ] and I have become painfully familiar with ( the atmosphere of ,Bow Street Police , Court. In the last five years I have 1 paid nearly £4OOO in fines and legal ex- , penses, and I have been blackmailed very heavily as well. Integrity of the Police. "I do not mean to suggest that I have paid money to the police. I have no reason to feel kindly_ toward them; far from it. But. in fairness lam bound to say that I have never paid a shilling to a police officer, nor have I ever been approached by one with a suggestion of bribery. Those who hava blackmailed me include people from whom I might have expected better consideration. ' The costs of running a club vary considerably. I know of one that was started by two ex-waiters with a capital of only £2OO, while, at the other end of the scale, one of the most fashionable night clubs, in the West End was launched with a capital of £15.000. I have never sunk so much capital in any of my night club ventures. The initial outlay for my first club—Dalton's, in Leicester Square — was no more than £750. That was fiv* years ago. Now expenses arc greater. " I have before me my accounts for the Broadway Club, in Newman Street. I spent more tliau £SOOO before (he Opening night. The expenses were very high. The orchestra cost £125 a week, the cabaret show another £75, while the rent, staff wages and food swallowed up another £2OO. With other, expenses the total charges worked out at not much less than £SOO a week. It will be seen that it is necessary to take a lot of money to make such an expensive club pay. On the other baud, some night clubs can bo run much more economically. Brett's, in Tottenham Court Road, was the cheapest place to run I have ever been associated with. Writing from memory, I believe the running expenses were no more than £7O a week, and we did without a cabaret show. In the early days of my night club experiences, an orchestra could be obtained for far less than one has to pay now. I think the first orchestra I engaged cost no more than £25 a week. J Profits From Guest Fees. " The greatest profits are obtained not from the sale of drink, as many people imagine, but from guest fees. I usually charge 7s 6d or 10s to non-members as an admission fee, and when one considers that on a good night a great many visitors mav come along, it will be seen that a very substantial revenue may be obtained from this source. It has been my general custom to charge members £4 4s a year, or a guinea a quarter, but it is out of the occasional visitor who pays a guest fee to go in that most of the money is made. If one is to serve drink after hours, it is essential to < charge pretty heavily to make a big proht. I have never charged _ outrageous r,rices and the consequence is that, taking into consideration the fines I have had to pav, I have been heavily out of pocket on" the sales of drink. I was foolish in ever giving v/ay to the clamoui for drinks at all hours. I wish I had not. Besides members' subscriptions, guests fees and the sales of liquor, a certain amount of revenue is obtained from the profits on meals served in the club, and on boxes of chocolates bought for the dancing instructresses. If a club is a success it ought to show an immediate profit of between £IOO and £2OO a week. But the trouble is that it does not last. The police come along, a conviction is obtained, and a big: sum is swallowed up in fines and costs and other expenses. I have always paid my managers' fines as well as my own." Payments to "Agents." Proceeding, Mrs. Merrick says: "People who introduce custom to the club expect handsome remuneration, and there are certain people with whom it is highly advisable to keep on good terms. All this costs money. Another difficulty is that it is impossible to exercise proper supervision and check alt receipts. One is always liable to be swindled, and I know I often have been. When I first went into the night club business, in the days after the armistice, it was easy to make big profits. There was a lot of , money about in those d&vs, and people were able to spend much more freely than they do now. "In some of the worst class of night dubs it lias always been the custom to 'fleece' visitors unmercifully. Men are admitted in a state of intoxication, encouraged to drink even more, and then robbed—sometimes of everything on them. None can say that anything of that sort has ever happened in any club of mine. On the contrary, I have time and again lent money to visitors who have come to me with a tale of misfortune. More often than not my trust has been sadly abused, and 1 have never seen my money again. I have never been "thrifty myself, and in recent years I have paid away all sorts of big sums without bothering very much about what return 1 was going to get. "I have been particularly foolish in allowing myself to be blackmailed so easily. Nothing I can say is bad enough to describe those who prey upon one in this way. All the men I have come into contact with in this connection arc lowclass aliens. They have held me up to ransom by preying on my groundless fears. I have often paid as much as £IOO at a time in face of those threats. One man demanded nothing less than £;)00. Some Clubs Never Raided. " T think I have made it plain that. I bring no charge of bribery against the police, but what I do blame them f«v is their unfair discrimination in regard to the night clubs which they single out for official visitation. Everyone who is familiar with the night life of London knows that there are clubs which are conducted on most disreputable lines that have never once been prosecuted. Some of these clubs have been in existence for as long as four years, and the proprietors must by now be rich men. " The places to which I refer aro all run by foreigners of the worst type. Some are men who have served terms of penal servitude for serious crimes, and their clubs are little better than criminal dens. Poisonous drink is served at all hours of the night, and unsuspecting visitors run serious risk, not only of robbery, but of physical injury. Half of the people who use these clubs are invariably armed, and they use their weapons on little or no provocation. It is common knowledge that, slabbing is quite frequent in these circles, but it is only when somebody is mortally wounded that the police take vigorous action. "1 .suggest that the police should take Rctrfee steps to clear the West End of these dangerous dens instead of spending their time and the, public money in collecting .Evidence o! comparatively trivial «i!»nces committed in clubs to which any decent person can go in perfect safety.",

Mrs. Merrick lias a, few words to say as to her views on night clubs and what she thinks ought to !>e done to put an end to the abuses that admittedly exist at present. "I think it would be ridiculous to try to close down all night clubs," she says. "There is a genuine, legitimate demand for decently-conducted clubs, and if they cannot be run legally then the demand will be catered for illegally. Surely it would bo better to recognise that t-hore is such a demand, and to make it possible for people to cater for it, while at the same time complying with the law. I suggest that night clubs should be permitted to serve drink until, say. 2 a.m.: but that every cbib so licensed should be subject to police supervision. If that were done, and if the authorities had power to revoke the license of any club that was not conducted on decent lines, then all the present evil would be swept away. " Night life in London has extended enormously during the. past few years. People now go regularly to night clubs 1 who not. long ago would have been shocked ,nt the thought of going. Something must ijo done to meet the demand, and the more lt*jal obstacles are placed in the way the giVater becomes the danger that the demand will be catered for surreptitiously by persons of bad character or no character." In concluding Mrs. Merrick remarks: — " I do not intend to be scared out of night club life. I intend to carry on—but rant in defiance of the law. My next club, as I have said* is going to bo ' dry,' but I .hope I shall soon see the day when compliance with the, law will no: mean compliance with rules and regulations that are quite out of keeping with the, jspirit of the times."