£15 to Store a Bag: How UK Nightclubs Turned Cloakrooms Into Big Business

A night out in the UK can now cost £15 just to store a large bag, as venues from Manchester to Edinburgh push cloakroom prices into double digits. What cost £2 not long ago now runs more than £13 at some venues, according to a survey of UK nightlife pricing.

The numbers stack up fast. Large lockers at the Outernet Live complex in London's Soho cost £11. At east London nightclub Fold, it's £9 — and retrieving something means paying again. Drumsheds, the UK's biggest nightclub in north London, charges up to £13.20, though its lockers are reusable with no extra fee. At the Warehouse Project in Manchester, large bags must go to a nearby Premier Inn at £11.99 per locker. Manchester's Co-op Live Arena runs a dedicated bag storage facility at £15 for large bags. It's £9.99 near the 3,000-capacity Edinburgh Playhouse and £9.90 at Testbed in Leeds.

What's driving the price rises?

The fees feed a broader squeeze on nightlife spending. Average spending per head on a night out has climbed from £20.95 in 2020 to £28.06 in 2026, according to the Night Time Industries Association.

"For years, nightlife businesses have faced relentless increases in the cost of operating, from energy and employment to taxation, business rates and supply chains," the association's chief executive, Michael Kill, said. "Many have had no choice but to pass some of those costs on to consumers simply to keep their doors open. But the reality is that consumers have now hit an affordability ceiling."

With drinkers spending less on alcohol, lockers and cloakrooms give venues a way to recoup revenue. But Kill warns that "the consumer cannot be the industry's financial shock absorber indefinitely."

Security rules changed the game too. After the 2017 Manchester Arena attack at an Ariana Grande concert, which killed 22 people and injured more than 1,000, the government introduced "Martyn's law." It requires "appropriate public protection measures" at public events to reduce the risk and impact of terror attacks. Many venues — including the nationwide network of 18 Academy Music Group sites — banned bags over A4 size and offloaded storage to external partners. In London, those partners are often kebab shops, restaurants and barbers.

Who profits from the kebab-shop lockers?

Carrie Wang, a London-based spin instructor, hit the system before a Hot Chip show at O2 Academy Brixton. Her near-empty tote bag had to go into a kebab shop round the corner. "I was fuming," Wang said. "They charged me £10 and it wasn't a proper facility, it was just a random storage room — it's not like they had lockers and my things were actually safe there." Academy Music Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ahmed Khan, owner of Kentish Delight, a kebab shop in Kentish Town, took up the trade in 2022 after O2 Kentish Town Forum's management asked about spare space. "They had a look and said my premises are perfect and secure for the customer — and I said yes, why not?" Khan charges £5 per bag and says nothing has ever gone missing. "Although the bag people never buy kebabs."

The Dutch company eLockers supplies locker systems to many UK nightclubs, including Drumsheds, Fold and the Warehouse Project. "When we expanded into the UK, we saw that many venues were facing staffing challenges following Covid, making traditional cloakrooms increasingly difficult to operate," said Willem Pelle, the company's head of sales. London is eLockers' main UK market, with Manchester second. Venues typically pay no upfront cost and share the takings. "It's important that the pricing works for both the venue and its customers, while creating a sustainable additional revenue stream," Pelle said.

Are clubbers fighting back?

Some are taking risks instead. At an AEW wrestling event at Wembley Arena, fans were directed to a nearby Premier Inn at £10 per bag, with long queues. Soul singer Danny Toeman stuffed his rucksack behind a carpark vending machine. "I could stuff most of the valuable contents into my pockets," Toeman said. "So I thought: let's just stash it somewhere and if it gets stolen, so what?" That carries its own security risk — had staff spotted the backpack, the venue could have been evacuated. One Reddit user reported hiding a bag outside the O2 Academy in Southampton: "I was forced to leave it outside the building entirely and it was stolen when I came out."

Not every venue has bought in. The cloakroom at Hackney Bath House is free. Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh installed lockers in 2012 and still charges £2. Peckham's 200-capacity club the Carpet Shop charges £3 per item. "No need to charge more, it's a tiny bit of space and a rail," said general manager Cam Prentis, who sees the cloakroom as part of the club experience: "Whoever's on the cloakroom has their own music playing," he said. "It's a vibe up there." As affordability pressure builds, the split between £15 lockers and £3 rails is becoming a test of which venues treat storage as service — and which treat it as a revenue line.