Sadiq Khan‘s ‘night-tsar’ has been given a £12,000 pay rise despite presiding over London‘s declining nightlife.
Earlier this year, Amy Lamé insisted she was worth her £120,000-a-year salary despite receiving backlash over City Hall-funded trips to Australia, Italy and Spain.
Industry experts and the Conservative party have previously questioned whether she is providing value for money as startling figures showed London was falling behind cities such as Liverpool and Birmingham.
Now, it has been revealed that Ms Lamé has received a 4.5 per cent annual pay rise, in line with other staff at the Greater London authority, which takes her salary to £132,000-a-year, The Times reports.
This also comes after Khan secured a historic third term as London Mayor last week, using his victory speech to tell Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ‘give the public a choice’ and call for a general election.
Sadiq Khan’s ‘night-tsar’ Amy Lamé (pictured) has been given a £12,000 pay rise
Ms Lamé has blamed the previous Mayor of London Boris Johnson for the struggling nighttime economy
Ms Lamé, who is also a DJ on BBC Radio 6, explained that she was appointed in 2016 ‘to help London thrive as a 24 hour city.’
Many have criticised Sadiq Khan’s decision to fund the American-born DJ’s position after figures from Square-Up, a firm which processes payments for businesses, said that in terms of the sheer number of transactions Liverpool and Birmingham have now overtaken London.
One survey found that 1,165 venues have closed in London since pandemic, and the head of one industry body says that while all cities in Britain are facing issues, Ms Lamé has to answer for London’s poor performance.
Michael Knill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), told The Times that he believes that while the ‘night tsar’ has to oversee all 32 boroughs of London – a job that is far greater than others in her position elsewhere – there are still questions that need answering.
He said: ‘There is a big difference between signposting and virtue signalling and driving tangible change. We see a lot of announcements but not so many results.’
He claimed ‘the industry feels there hasn’t been a strong enough voice for us’ and that while there have been worthwhile initiatives such as the women’s night safety charter, more is needed.
Earlier this year, images posted under #LameLondon on X – formerly known as Twitter – went viral showing the state of London’s empty streets at night, as some of the capital’s best-known bars face closure.
New figures revealed that London’s nighttime economy has been overtaken by Liverpool and Birmingham
Michael Knill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) questioned whether Ms Lamé would deliver any ‘tangible change’
One user posted a picture of a sign reading ‘no drinks outside after 9.30pm’ on the social media page, complaining ‘London nightlife is practically nonexistent’.
Another re-posted an image of a deserted Kingly Street in Soho from March last year, saying: ‘I live in Soho and don’t know a pub I can get a drink in post 10.30pm on a weeknight.’
Between 2006 and 2022 it was reported that more than half the capital’s LGBTQ+ venues shut their doors, according to the Telegraph, with the owner of London’s Heaven nightclub also warning the club risks closure due to soaring costs.
An average of two nightclubs also closed every week between March 2020 and December 2023 across the UK, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).
Although most of Ms Lamé’s trips abroad – which saw her travel to Sydney, Bologna and Madrid in the space of 12 months in 2022 and 2023 – were not paid for by the taxpayer and were instead funded through private donations.
But there have been costs for the taxpayer. According to her expenses, for a trip to Berlin, she claimed for flights and accommodation.