Bristol’s night-time economy leads recovery with £45.5m spent on Visa cards alone in last six months

Bristol’s bustling bars, clubs, restaurants and leisure venues are spearheading the recovery from the pandemic, councillors heard.

The city council’s night-time economy adviser Carly Heath says £45.5million was spent by customers on Visa cards alone between 6pm and 6am in the BS1 postcode area over the last six months, of which two-thirds was by people going for a night out to have fun and socialise.

She told licensing committee members: “I’ve got patchy data about the amount of money that’s coming into the city from the night-time economy, and the data is from Bristol city centre BID (Business Improvement District), and that is just Visa spend, so it’s just one type of spend within the city.

“But in the last six months the 6pm to 6am economy has brought in nearly £45.5million into BS1 alone and just on Visa spend.

“Sixty-seven per cent of this is restaurants, bars, clubs, leisure and entertainment, so the core heart of the night-time economy.

“It is quite a significant amount of revenue coming into the city, and that is with omicron and the cost of living crisis.”

She told the Bristol City Council meeting on Thursday, June 16, that about 25 per cent of the total economy of BS1 was from income between 6pm and 6am.