By Daniella Dogbe
As a 21-year-old woman in London who loves electronic music, I’ve searched far and wide for venues that deliver the full experience. Good music, friendly crowd and an electric atmosphere. But most importantly, safety.
Last year, on a typical weekend for my best friend and me, we went out seeking the full experience. So we headed to The Cause, a docklands-based expansive nightclub well-loved for their live music. We were attending a rave in the upper gallery of the venue. Dark, humid and loud was just the environment we had sought. After buying a cider from the bar, I put it down after a few sips.
Within an hour of returning to my cider, I beeline to the bathroom. My heart was racing. Confined to a squalid stall and overwhelmed. I realised I had been spiked.
What happened to me isn’t rare and it’s part of a wider problem with safety and harm in the UK nightlife scene. It can happen to anyone, regardless of age, gender or sexuality.
In today’s clubbing culture,the survival skills of guarding your drink, scanning the room, keeping personal space have become second nature. But this shouldn’t be the norm. A 2024 report from Drinkaware and A.R.U revealed that the majority of drink spiking cases occur in bars (41%) and clubs (28.5%). So how do we make nights out safer?
The landscape in nightlife is shifting. Drinking culture is losing its appeal and young people are turning elsewhere – to substances, often illicit. This trend raises serious concerns about harm reduction and what venues are doing to ensure our safety.
To find out what clubbers think about safety today, I visited Venue MOT — a modest but mighty space tucked away in South Bermondsey. I asked ravers: “Do you feel safe clubbing?”
Belfio, raver, 21 made a poignant statement. It is not a party without harm reduction.
What is “harm reduction”?
Recreational drug use is prohibited inside venues, but people of course still do it anyway. That is where harm reduction comes into play.
Harm reduction is a set of strategies and ideas that aims to reduce the negative consequences of drug use. It focuses on education rather than demonisation.
Security have a key role in this ecosystem. They are the guard keepers of your adventure inside. Door supervisors and security guards key duties are preventing drug dealing and the use of firearms or weapons.
Back in Venue MOT, whilst dancing I notice eyes on me. The intense pair belong to the serious looking security guard on the perimeter of the room. About to shuffle away, the security guard tells me “You look fabulous, darling”, to my delight.
I approached the kind security guard at the end of the night to understand how they do their job with welfare in mind.
Stuart Edwards, 56, tells me “It starts with how we interact. I make sure to stay vigilant by checking in on people if someone’s been sitting alone for awhile, if they seem off or they look like they’re in distress.” He goes on to say “Sometimes it’s asking ‘are you alright?’ or offering to take them somewhere quieter or medical support if needed. I see security as the first line of welfare support.”
The veteran bouncer highlighted that security are on the frontlines of club safety. Venue MOT have standard practices of security akin to most venues in London.
However, then I visited FOLD, a elusive venue in East London that left an impact. Fold operates a 21 or over age policy, which calls for a more mature demographic inside. They run their security and welfare different to many. Upon entry to the venue, a security guard places a sticker on my phone camera. No photos or videos are allowed inside as the club are committed to raver freedom from surveillance.
“Fold is an artist led, community driven nightclub and arts space committed to building-and protecting-safer spaces for all,” it says.
Consequently, I’ve never seen ravers so free.
Fold ditches the typical heavy uniform of security guards and that surveilled feeling. Instead, Fold utilises a welfare team that opt for plain, black clothing, are the main point of contact inside and the only staff members that operate on the dance floor.
During the night, I noticed a stylish woman standing at the bar, from behind. A welfare officer approaches her, asking if she wants to sit down or find somewhere quiet. The officer gently leads her away from the crowd. Fold really fosters a culture where all the team were approachable.
Harm reduction can get tricky because it acknowledges that people are using drugs inside the venue, which is against the law. This is why all clubs have a ‘no tolerance’ policy. But Fold manages the boundary well, fostering trust between the ravers and the venue.
I went to Release, the leading organisation in harm reduction. They offer a harm reduction hub from 2-5pm, offering advice and information for users.
I spoke to Riley Johnson at Release to understand what they do and how nightlife could be improved in terms of safety.
“Theres so many things that could improve the safety of people using drugs in nightlife, the law prevents drug testing to be done on site. So that would be a great start. Even if its just having test strips that happen to be out and people can take them if they go past. Selling reagent kits to test drugs and just general drug education.”
She continues, “Ideally, in a dream world there would also be people like wellbeing officers that look out for people if they’re having a bad time, having a safe space they can take them too, and those people being aware of what the signs might be of someone who’s in a bit of a pickle in terms of their drug use.
“Everyone looking out for each other and a nice community experience would be my main thing.”
Why is harm reduction needed?
“I think harm reduction is needed in every scene, nightlife being one of them. Even just in the last month, there’s been deaths and a drug alert sent out because of deaths in the nightlife community. I think that nightlife has always been a thing and everyone’s always known that using drugs at clubs has been a thing or even socially at the pub. But there has been an increase in contaminants recently.”
“With younger people being introduced to drugs or starting to use drugs or people of any age -they just need education. There’s still a lot of stigma. Which needs to be broken down because there’s a lot of self stigma amongst drug users as well. And its needed for the safety of everyone involved really.”
Legislation is the elephant in the room when it comes to talk about substances in the nightlife scene. After researching policies put in place to “protect”, I found that these policies were working against what harm reduction aims to achieve. So I asked Riley, how do you feel that can be changed?
“All of the policies are absolutely against harm reduction. They (in reference to the government) say that in the interest of public health, they want things like needle exchanges and blood or virus testing but then don’t actually do anything to change the system in place.”
When I was spiked, I didn’t go to security, I didn’t know I could. But that’s exactly what should change, safety at clubs is not a privilege. It should be a guaranteed part of your night. Whether it’s welfare officers in black, kind security staff, or community-led harm reduction hubs, we deserve better. Because the dancefloor should be a place of freedom — not fear.
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