The Monocle Minute

There’s a reason why old adages withstand the test of time and the one that best embodies London’s nightlife is: it takes years to build a reputation and seconds to ruin it. Once one of the world’s party capitals where late nights in Soho basements and dewy Dalston dive bars met early mornings in Camden’s alternative rave scene, today you’d count yourself lucky to find a decent pint poured past midnight in Central London. In 2024 alone, 55 pubs shuttered in the metropolis, the biggest decline in the UK. Could this sobering reality have been avoided? Well, sort of.

One of the first things mayor Sadiq Khan did when first elected to office in 2016 was to appoint a night czar – someone dedicated to creating a true 24-hour city. The honour was bestowed upon Amy Lamé, a leader in the cultural and LGBTQ scenes, the latter becoming one of her main causes as she worked to make venues more inclusive. However, when she stepped down in 2024 after nearly a decade in the post, she left behind a city marked by a sharp decline in its nocturnal economy, a rise in safety concerns and, perhaps worst of all, well-rested Londoners.

Nonetheless, it was quite surprising to read about Lamé's new endeavour, 24hr Cities, a new global consultancy to help others unlock their “nighttime potential”. Unlike night mayors in Amsterdam, Vienna or Berlin, Lamé lacked the influence to achieve what London needed (her position being more symbolic than impactful). Granted, she was also poured a dispiriting cocktail of rising rents, stricter licensing laws and a pandemic; all factors admittedly beyond her control.

Perhaps all this has prompted Khan’s decision not to replace Lamé and to launch an independent “Nightlife Taskforce” instead. Chaired by the founder of London’s legendary Fabric nightclub, Cameron Leslie, the social squad will lean on “experts from the frontline of the capital’s nightlife”. For now, Lamé is able to continue saying that she was the city’s one-and-only night czar – a title proudly displayed on her new consultancy’s website and a reminder of another old adage: you should practice what you preach.

Carlota Rebelo is Monocle’s senior foreign correspondent and the producer of‘The Urbanist’, Monocle Radio’s podcast about how to make better cities.

When Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, announced plans to increase defence spending from 4.1 per cent of GDP to 4.7 per cent, the resulting €30bn war chest became the largest among Nato countries and the world stood to attention. However, not all security strategies need to be eye-catching in order to be effective. That’s why the big-spending Poles are considering a duller, monochrome look for the insignia on their F35 jets. Proposed legislation seeks to change the colour of the planes’ patriotic red-and-white chequerboard emblem to a muted grey, which – it is hoped – will blend with the surrounding surface of the fighter.

The reason for the alteration? According to the Polish Air Force, the slightest details can help an enemy to identify an aircraft’s allegiance on radar systems or in flight. The potential change would make Poland’s F35s less conspicuous when they take to the skies in early 2026, following a deal with Lockheed Martin for 32 warplanes. Cool your jets though – you shouldn’t expect to spot them.

Shoppers in Hong Kong have traditionally congregated in the city’s well-served central neighbourhoods but many are starting to venture a little further out for their retail fix. A 15-minute drive from downtown is The Repulse Bay, a new destination in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, which has undergone a remarkable two-year transformation courtesy of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited.

The beachfront property, which brings together residential units and specialist retailers, is on the site of a former hotel. From its opening in the 1920s to the early 1980s, The Repulse Bay Hotel was a glittering institution that welcomed glamorous guests, including Ernest Hemingway and Marlon Brando. In more recent times, however, it stood largely abandoned.

The Repulse Bay now focuses on boutique retailers instead of mainstream luxury brands, turning the site’s shopping arcade into a hub of best-in-class bakers, restaurateurs, florists and fashion designers. Monocle paid the site a visit for its February Issue. Pick up a copy to take a closer look.

In 1992 singer Eddie Chacon, half of the duo Charles and Eddie, released a barnstormer of a single called “Would I Lie to You”. After a career diversion to fashion photography, music called him back in 2020. Returning with his third album, Lay Low, Chacon sat down with Monocle to talk about his upbringing in a rock-star hotbed, the tension of creative collaboration and his musical comeback.

You’ve been writing songs since you were 12 and some of your first band members went on to be part of Faith No More and Metallica. How about that?
I grew up in a neighborhood that turned out to be really fertile ground for breeding rock stars. It was just a small suburb of San Francisco and Oakland but all of the young boys that I grew up with went on to live lives in the music business.

Your most famous partnership was with Charles Pettigrew. Did you need someone like Charles to bounce off of?
In hindsight, I can see that in order to make fire there has to be friction. Charles and I had that. We had tension. It was a competent combination of respect, abrasion and love, all in one package. He was the missing piece for me at that time.

You left the industry, picked up a camera and started making a magazine called ‘Autre’. Did the music industry lose its vim and vigour for you?
There came a time when Charles and Eddie went from being celebrated to being thought of as a one-hit wonder. I didn’t want to do anything that would do a disservice to the beauty of what we created.

Your new LP, ‘Lay Low’, is out now. How did you approach this record?
Well, in what I call my career 2.0, I wanted to do something that was kind of counterintuitive to what I did in the past. I want to make records that are sort of meditative and quiet; that pull you in as opposed to jumping in your face.

We speak with Steve Watson from Stack Magazines about print trends in 2025 and the popularity of titles dealing with sex and relationships. Also on the programme: we chat with Chris Kontos from Kennedy magazine on his new wine bar in Athens and the world’s only publication about sign-painting.