Blah, blah, blah, another London club has closed, blah, blah. Boy am I getting tired of writing these club closing blogs. What’s going on in clubland? It seems not a week goes by that one of London’s iconic clubs bites the dust. This time, Rex Cinema and Bar closes. Their lease at Rupert Street expired, forcing them to shut with immediate effect. Their unique mix of bar, club and cinema is sure to be missed in Central London – I, for one, am sad to say goodbye.

You only have to look back over my blogs of the last year (see Is This The End of Kings Cross?, The End is Nigh For Turnmills, The Marquee Club Closes For Good, London Clubs: Out With The Old, In With The New, Pangaea Says Its Last Goodbyes, G-A-Y Waves Goodbye, The End of The End, Central London Clubs Closing, Chinawhite Closing) to see that, one after another, London’s club scene is slowly being destroyed. OK, so maybe that’s a BIT dramatic, but it is a concern, especially as, whilst not a day goes past that another bar and restaurant opens (see Best Bars in London 2008, Best Restaurants in London 2008 and New Bars in London), it seems that clubland is losing clubs faster than it can replenish them. The fact that Rex Cinema and Bar closes its doors for the last time only serves to underline this growing issue.

In 2008, there were a few club openings (see Best Clubs in London 2008) and a few venues – such as Ghetto and G-A-Y – moved location rather than closing down entirely. However, these new openings don’t come close to the cull of early 2008 when The Cross, The Key and Cargo closed, shortly followed by Turnmills or that of December 2008 when Chinawhite, Paper and Dolce London closed their doors for good, although Chinawhite has confirmed it will be opening in a new location in the summer. Hmm, I don’t know how happy that news is!

With The End and AKA closing for good on 24th January, superclubs in London are suffering the most. Of course, the mighty matter opened in September and has seen huge success in the gap left by the club closures. Lesser-known Ghost also opened its doors for the first time in the New Year, not far from the site of long-dead Turnmills, but it’s yet to make its mark on the scene and has been accused of being a bit overpriced. Not a great boast in today’s economic climate.

The only area of London’s club life that seems to be doing well is the members clubs, and I’m not sure if this will continue as we wade our way through this depressing recession, credit crunch, whatever you want to call it. Last year saw Paramount, Jalouse, Molton House, Victory, Bureau and Eight EC2 open their doors for the first time, making up the majority of the club openings for 2008. Pangaea was also replaced immediately with Vendome Mayfair.

I known there are hard times ahead for club owners as people are forced to stay home to save the pennies, I just hope that we don’t see too heavy a downturn on London’s club scene. It’s a shame that Rex Cinema and Bar closes in a time when we could all do with cheering up.

Here’s to a long 2009!