We made the difficult decision to sell Nightjar Carnaby due to the challenging hospitality landscape.

While the industry has always faced ups and downs, recent pressures such as rising rents and increased operating costs have made it harder for many businesses to thrive, especially in central London locations. When the opportunity arose to sell the premises to a local business, we felt it was the right moment to do so. This decision, though not taken lightly, allows us to safeguard our other venues and ensure they remain strong and profitable.

Yes.

Our team is one of our most important assets, and we’ve ensured that staff members will have the opportunity to remain with the new owners if they choose to.

We’ve also offered them the option to move across to our other bars - Nightjar Shoreditch, Oriole, or Swift, if that’s preferable to them.

We will honour all bookings by transferring them to either Nightjar Shoreditch or to Oriole.

We will be contacting every booking via email - please bear with us.

Our goal is to manage the closure and transition of the business as efficiently as possible for everyone involved, including our guests. 

To that end, we did not want to make any announcements or cause speculation about the closure until we were certain the sale was confirmed. Guests do not need to do anything – we will be contacting everyone directly.

The new operators will continue to showcase live music.

Musicians’ gigs will be honoured beyond mid-October. We have informed the buyers which acts we programme and have offered to introduce them to all our musicians. We will continue to include them at Nightjar Shoreditch and Oriole.

Not at the moment.

Right now, our priority is to focus on our other venues. Nightjar Shoreditch is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and we have a series of exciting events planned, many in collaboration with other bars to spotlight and support the wider industry.

The venue will be taken on by new owners, who plan to continue running it as a bar, re-opening it as a different venue.

Nightjar Shoreditch will continue to operate as usual.

Shoreditch is where our story began, and this year marks 15 years since its opening. Its legacy and place in the industry are deeply important to us. Nightjar Carnaby, which we opened in 2022, was an exciting venture, though its run was shorter than we had hoped. Our focus now is on ensuring Shoreditch continues to thrive and on sharing the insights we’ve gained over the last 15 years to support longevity in the wider hospitality community. We have a number of exciting events planned as part of the 15 year anniversary.