Tinder is killing pubs, clubs and live music venues, promoter claims

'We need to get young people off their phones and back into our bars to actually socialise or we're all going to go out of business'

Christopher Hooton
Tuesday 18 August 2015 16:40 BST
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Tinder is frequently blamed for the death of romance and the general decline of Western civilisation, but now something’s been added to the list of things it has apparently ruined you might not have thought of: live music.

In a Facebook post, the owner of Cherry Bar in Melbourne Australia recalled a recent conversation:

“I had an interesting chat last night at Yah Yah's with another Melbourne Promoter. We were discussing the fact that 2015 was a tough year…He posed a theory I had never heard before:

“'You've forgotten the most important factor of all. Tinder has destroyed the live music and pub scene. First, look at Grinder and the gay scene. Grindr came two years before Tinder. Commercial Road Prahran used to be a thriving late night gay hot spot. Now, it's dead as a door nail. It's over. Now we are seeing the same thing with Tinder. This is how young people "pick up" these days. I see them in the office. They're on it all the time. They're not going out to clubs and pubs to pick up anymore. They're just picking up their phones. Tinder is killing off clubs and pubs all over Melbourne and Australia. And when they take their dates out for the first time, they try to impress them with some chic dining experience, rather than a rowdy live music experience. I'm telling you, Tinder has alot to answer for. It's bleak out their for club owners. These are dark and challenging times. We need to get young people off their phones and back into our bars to actually socialise or we're all going to go out of business.’ Mind blown.”

I had an interesting chat last night at Yah Yah's with another Melbourne Promoter. We were discussing the fact that 2015...

Posted by Cherry Bar on Saturday, August 15, 2015

On one hand the rant by the anonymous promoter sounds a little ‘old man shouts at internet’, but on the other it’s hard to deny the amorous motivations behind a lot of nights out and how a few of them might now be ditched in favour of a night spent swiping away on the sofa.

The Facebook post caused a lengthy debate on the page for the bar (which the owner claims is actually doing fine right now), with followers suggesting that a lack of disposable income and affordable housing in inner cities, where venues are usually located, were also factors.

“Sex is the theatre of the poor,” Cherry Bar concluded, quoting Oscar Wilde.

Last week, Twitter issued a lengthy rebuttal on Twitter after Vanity Fair accused the app of bringing about a “dating apocalypse”.

@christophhooton

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