Brixton’s closure shocks students

Brixton Social, located near the University Shops Plaza on University Avenue, will be closing at the end of November after six years of operations in Waterloo.

The nightclub, finding inspiration from the Borough of Lambeth in South London, hence the name Brixton, opened in 2013 and was the only club in the university area that offered a premium experience with bottle service, a dress code and its unique playlists.

Brixton also hosted many events, DJ and even celebrity appearances in its time. It’s most recent notable appearance being from YouTube star Tana Mongeau in January, who has a network of almost five million Instagram followers and five million YouTube subscribers.

“Right now, we just feel like it’s time, we’re on our sixth year and in this industry things turn over, they get stale, new things pop up. It’s had a really good run and we think it’s time to end on a high note opposed to letting it completely fizzle out,” said Connor Caden, owner of Brixton Social.

“We felt that it was a good time of the year for us to do the grand finale events and then go from there.”

Brixton follows in a line of other clubs in the region closing, with Beta nightclub shutting down in February of 2017 as the space is now taken up by Erb and Culture, as well as the closing of Night School this past year that is now operating as The Drink Uptown in the same space.

“Laurier, for example, is definitely a school similar to Western or Queen’s where in comparing it to a school like the University of Waterloo, a lot more students tend to go out on a weekly basis, I don’t feel like that’s decreased, but as the city grows there are more options,” Caden said.

“Being in this industry for a long time, things do get a lot more tight knit with the city, with AGCO regulations, just like anything in time. I remember back 10 years ago security guards were just guys who played on the football team, but now it’s not the case, there are so many regulations that it makes it a little more challenging.”

The shift in the last five years is that the consumer is spending more money on less product. They tend to buy more premium products opposed to getting more volume in a cheaper product, the rail products have been declining. People are consuming less, but more premium products.

– Connor Caden, owner of Brixton Social

Nov. 14 was the club’s final night of operations with their “The Weekly” Thursday event as they announced via a Facebook post that the sudden closure was due to “immediate unforeseen circumstances.”

“It’s also things like St. Patty’s day where 30,000 are there, you think of the capacity of every club, even with all of combined the population makes up for about 2,000 people, but they have another place like a house party to go where they can go and underagers can go with alcohol purchased from the LCBO, that will take away from venues, but I wouldn’t say that less people are going out,” Caden said.

“The shift in the last five years is that the consumer is spending more money on less product. They tend to buy more premium products opposed to getting more volume in a cheaper product, the rail products have been declining. People are consuming less, but more premium products.”

Although many are saddened by the club’s sudden closing after what many would consider a very successful six years, the club’s final post also hinted at a future for those involved with the Brixton community.

“All I can say is stay tuned, I can’t say much more at this time, but I can say there could be something after Dec. 1,” Caden said.

“I would like to thank all the Laurier students, without them I am confident that Brixton wouldn’t have been as successful as it was or continued to be, I would like to thank the student base for their support and the Laurier culture.”