Will billionaires' children ruin London's nightlife or revive it?

London is renowned for its cutting-edge music scene and particularly rich nightlife. And the British capital's clubs have recently seen a surge in children from wealthy families investing in the industry. This has sparked a debate across the Channel: will these new players in the sector "distort this popular culture with their money? Or do they represent a very promising new generation of patrons?" asks The Guardian .

These new investors include Ollie Ashley, son of billionaire Mike Ashley, owner of the sports retailer Sports Direct, and Magnus Rausing, an heir to the Swedish-Swiss packaging company Tetra Pak, who is funding Figura – a party planning company that he hopes will turn into “opportunities to celebrate art and culture, and that’s it” .

For professionals in this highly unpredictable sector, which is largely affected by inflation, the decline in purchasing power among young people, and the repercussions of Covid-19, the concern is that these new promoters could pay a lot of money for star DJs. This risks leading “to an inflation of market prices that would ultimately weaken the entire sector.” John Becker, founder and executive director of Figura, denies this, describing it as a project “that strives to foster artistic freedom, risk-taking, and artist-centered programming, rather than a race for profitability.”

Rausing's significant funding would allow him to be less commercial while supporting other, smaller players, such as Jan Mohammed, one of the pioneers of today's clubbing culture, who opened MOT in 2013. While the sculptor lost money in the venture, his club is now considered the best and most authentic in the capital by stars like Jamie XX . And the Figura company sometimes rents the venue for parties, helping to maintain its existence in "an unstable environment that must constantly adapt to new permitting rules and urban redevelopment."