Night Czar Amy Lamé to ride Tube until 1am holding 'surgeries' for passengers

Amy Lamé will ride the night Tube to learn customers' views
Pippa Crerar9 December 2016

London's new night czar is to hold late “surgeries” on Tube lines to help give the 24-hour economy a boost.

US comedian Amy Lamé, appointed last month, will start with the Piccadilly line on Friday next week.

She will travel between Cockfosters and Heathrow until 1am, talking to theatre and hotel staff, NHS workers and airport cleaners.

Over the next few months, Lamé aims to visit every borough. “This is about me trying to change the conversation from the costs to the benefits of the night-time economy,” she said.

“Oh my gosh, there are drunk people, some people weeing in the street! Yes those things happen but there are also other amazing things happening. It’s also a place where people are able to get up the ladder, make better lives.”

She led the successful campaign to save iconic gay venue the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and just weeks into her job is already finding other venues are at crisis point. London has lost 40 per cent of live music venues and 50 per cent of clubs since 2008.

Lamé told the Standard in her first interview: “So many people began getting in touch right away, saying, ‘We’re trying to save our venue, can you help us?’ My role is to stem that flow.”

Licensing, high property costs, planning and noise issues are all factors — but not low footfall. “We’re Londoners, we like going out,” said Lamé.

Mayor Sadiq Khan’s “agent of change” policy — whereby developers have to provide better sound insulation for new homes built next to clubs, in order to protect venues from future complaints — should help.

Lamé plays down her role in the re-opening of the nightclub Fabric, in which the owners and Islington council thrashed out a deal, but believes she can help with similar disputes in future.

“While I can’t take credit for solving that issue, part of my role is about bringing people around the table before it gets so bad,” she said.

Her appointment has not been without controversy. It came amid a blaze of publicity about offensive tweets she made about the Conservatives, including on “Tory scum”, the death of Margaret Thatcher and labelling former Chancellor George Osborne a “c***”.

What was behind them? “There are a lot of people who get quite upset by things that have happened politically,” she said. “I had quite strong opinions. I’m sorry if that offends some people. I have apologised for those tweets and I’m really keen to move on.”

The tweets have been deleted and she has a hard copy of City Hall’s code of conduct on her desk. She has made conciliatory phone calls to key Tory councils. Lamé has also come under fire over her decision to be paid through a personal service company, which is often used to pay less tax.

The comedian, who has had a weekly club night for years, insists that is “not unusual at all” in her industry. “I’m not doing anything illegal and when the law changes I will be fully compliant,” she said. “I’m not hiding anything.”

A decision to drop her partner as a director and move her company address were about “bringing my paperwork up to date”.

The Mayor, who promised not to appoint political cronies, has faced criticism for giving the plum role to a party member who raised funds for his campaign. But Lamé denies the pair are old friends or that her appointment was a stitch-up.

“We’re not mates — I knew Sadiq from Labour Party things,” she said. “I’ve never been to his house, I’ve not met his wife. If he were preventing anybody who ever supported him in his mayoral campaign from working for him it would be impossible.”

Lamé was good-humoured throughout the interview but her brow furrowed when asked whether she lacked business experience for the role.

“To me it seems quite unreal they’d suggest that, when I have 21 years of experience of working on the front line of the 24-hour economy,” she said.

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