'I'm from Northern Ireland - Luton isn't unsafe'

The Northern Irish manager of a music venue in Luton has said he cannot understand why the town has a poor reputation for safety.

The borough council has put together an action plan that aims to encourage more people to come to Luton town centre at night.

But Karl Brown, who manages The Bear Club, said the town had a "certain reputation" which had put people off coming.

The council said it had introduced more enforcement officers to help people feel safer.

The Bear Club almost disappeared in 2022 but was saved when Luton Town Football Club stepped in and acquired the building.

Brown said things were "going very well" at the club, which was named as one of the top 25 jazz clubs in the world by Allaboutjazz in 2018, but "Luton itself has a certain reputation".

He added: "I myself take umbrage of that. Being a boy from Belfast, I find it difficult to understand Luton's reputation issues when I'm from Northern Ireland, which, up until a good 20-odd years ago, was considered a war zone.

"But I can see very clearly there is an issue with the reputation of the town - we work in spite of that towards presenting an offer that people can be proud of."

Some evening visitors to Luton at the end of July felt the reputation was, to some extent, justified.

Mansi Shah, 19, said: "I used to come for a walk every night but it's not safe because I keep getting catcalled, so I just stopped coming out.

"I wouldn't recommend coming out here in the night or day, or ever."

Rabeya, in town with a friend, said she would not normally visit during the evening because "I just don't think it's safe to go out at night any more".

She felt there was nothing worth coming into town for, as "there used to be more [entertainment] than there is now and even the shops were better, but now the shops are rubbish".

A Task and Finish Group was established by Luton Borough Council in 2024 to look into ways of improving Luton's nighttime economy.

An action plan has been drafted as a result of the findings.

James Taylor, who held the regeneration portfolio for the authority when the group was set up, said: "We do keep track of all the statistics of crime in the town centre and we don't see massive spikes, but we do know there is a perception."

He said enforcement officers were now carrying out more patrols to reassure people and an SOS bus, providing first aid and support to members of the public, was being trialled for 32 nights.

As well as wanting a safer town centre, customers and businesses want a more active environment.

Emma Gough, visiting from Liverpool, said: "I don't think nightlife will be very good here because I've asked a few people and no one's given off a good vibe.

"So I'm going to go back to my hotel and just chill."

Nikhil Shukla manages the Red Lion, a pub and Indian restaurant in the town centre.

He said staging events was "a very expensive thing to do", but a recent event called Market Hill Live was "wicked - I've never seen Luton so busy".

"We need more of that, it was so good for the industry."

The Task and Finish Group has recommended making the process of organising events easier by streamlining and clarifying the process.

Taylor said the council was aware of the opportunities like the Universal Theme Park, the airport expansion and Luton's new Power Court stage would create for drawing more visitors into the town.

He said that, even though it would take many years for these developments to be complete, "we need to start getting this right, right now, so we're ready for those huge improvements that are coming down the road".

Back at The Bear Club, Karl Brown was quite optimistic about the future.

He said he did not recognise Belfast now as it had become prosperous and a tourist destination.

"I think some of that is definitely on the way for Luton town."

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