Sadiq Khan, London's new mayor, is hiring a "night czar" to boost the city's club scene

Life
ByJames Dennin

Sadiq Khan, London's dreamy new mayor, is worried that his city's nightlife is losing out to Berlin and other European capitals when it comes to being an easy place to party. 

"I don't want young and creative Londoners abandoning our city to head to Amsterdam, to Berlin, to Prague where clubs are supported and allowed to flourish," the Independent reported the mayor said during his campaign, expressing his concerns that London's clubs were no longer sufficiently lit. 

The government recently posted a job description for a newly created position that would try to do something about it.

The somewhat ominously titled "night czar" would focus on championing "the value of London's nighttime culture," while launching initiatives to help London stay a "24-hour city."

Gentrification has apparently taken its toll on swinging London's club scene: One industry group says the number of nightclubs in the city has fallen by almost half between 2005 and 2015, Quartz reported.

People on Twitter were quick with the jokes. 

But there's good reason to think that a night czar might not be such a silly position after all. 

Amsterdam (naturally) has had a night mayor since 2003, and Mirik Milan, the former club promoter who snagged the job in 2012, says there have already been enormous benefits. 

Between 2000 and 2014, Amsterdam tourism went up by 56%, International Business Times U.K. reported.

Aug. 26, 2016, 9:42 a.m. Eastern: This story has been updated.