Older residents who feel unsafe in Luton town centre after dark and cut off from information about what is happening in the evenings were at the heart of concerns raised by councillors as the council’s long-awaited review of the night time economy reached a final stage.
Meeting in the council chamber this week, members of the night time economy task and finish group warned that unless perceptions of safety improve and events are promoted beyond digital platforms, large sections of the community will continue to stay away from the town centre at night.
The comments came as councillors backed a final report on Luton’s night time economy following more than 13 months of work, including data analysis, engagement sessions, site visits and night time walkabouts.
The review was commissioned to examine why evening footfall in the town centre has struggled to recover, how people experience Luton after dark and what changes are needed to support a safer, more diverse and more sustainable evening offer.
Concerns around safety, particularly among older residents, featured heavily during the meeting and throughout the evidence gathered for the report.
“A lot of elderly people, it’s a perception rather than reality, do not feel safe in the town centre,” Councillor Mahmood Hussain said. “Visible policing and antisocial behaviour teams are very important.
“We have quite a few decent restaurants in the town, but the people that have the ability to go out in the evening and afford to pay are predominantly people that have retired, but they don’t feel safe coming into the town.”
The report notes that while recorded crime has fallen in some parts of the town centre, fear of crime and antisocial behaviour continues to shape how residents behave after dark. Evidence from community groups suggested that poor lighting, street drinking, aggressive begging and a lack of visible reassurance all contribute to negative perceptions, even where incidents are relatively low.
Alongside safety, councillors repeatedly highlighted a disconnect between what is happening in the town centre at night and what residents actually know about.
“A lot of venues in Luton do not tell people what’s going on,” Councillor Terry Keens said. “If you’re not very good on computers, you don’t really know what’s going on in the town.”
He told the meeting the issue had been raised directly by residents while he was out in the town centre.
“Two little old ladies stopped me in the Arndale complaining that they didn’t know what was going on in the Library Theatre,” he said, explaining how he told them information was available online, before adding: “Their comment was, ‘but we don’t deal with online’.”
The final report echoes this concern, warning that heavy reliance on social media, apps and websites risks excluding older residents and others with limited digital access. It concludes that poor communication is limiting demand for evening events and undermining efforts to broaden the town’s night time offer beyond late-night drinking.
Other councillors said the issue was not confined to one demographic. Chair of the group Councillor Steve Stephens said engagement gaps were being felt across the town.
“We’re not necessarily getting through to the wards, we’re not necessarily getting through to the age groups, maybe the elderly and the younger generation,” he said. “That is something that needs to be tackled.
“One of the things that has come across very strongly in the report, in the evidence and in the data, is that the behaviour and the interests of young people especially have changed a lot in recent years and businesses need to move and accommodate that.”
The report highlights a national shift away from traditional late-night clubbing, particularly among younger adults, towards earlier evening activity, food-led venues, alcohol-free events and experiences focused on culture, sport and socialising. In Luton, councillors heard that this shift has not yet been fully reflected in the town centre’s offer or how it is promoted.
Among its 15 recommendations, the report calls for a more coordinated approach to marketing what is happening in the town, combining online promotion with printed programmes, physical advertising and better use of screens in public buildings and leisure venues. Officers told councillors that work is already under way on a town-wide events programme, including printed material, which they hope to launch next month as part of celebrations marking 150 years of Luton’s status.
Other recommendations include improved use of data to understand evening footfall and spending patterns, closer partnership working with police and community safety teams to improve reassurance after dark and changes to the public realm, such as lighting and street design, to make the town centre feel safer and more welcoming in the evenings.
Amid The Castle this week hosting five consecutive night of live music as part of the national Independent Venue Week initiative to highlight the importance of grassroots music venues, the report also raises the need to support independent venues and smaller businesses, many of which struggle to promote events in advance due to limited resources, making it harder to build momentum around the night time economy.
As the meeting closed, councillors stressed that the review must lead to action rather than becoming another document that fails to deliver change.
“It’s no good us doing a recommendation which is gathering dust somewhere in the town hall unless it’s implemented and resources are put into it,” Councillor Hussain said. “Otherwise 18 [13] months of work would be a complete waste of time.”
Members also argued that residents and businesses who contributed evidence needed to see clear outcomes from the process, including whether their concerns had been acted on.
The final report, which contains 15 recommendations, is expected to go before the council’s executive on 22 April. If approved, its findings will feed into Luton’s wider visitor economy and town centre plans later in the year.
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