As always, one can only answer based on their own experience and what they see when out and about.
In my experience (I live in a UK town) it's not dead, although is maybe a little quieter.
I think surely a part of it is the expense. The price of alcohol just keeps going up here and it's getting to the point of being silly! It's so expensive and lots of people have decided to just drink at home! I know quite a few younger guys and girls and it seems like the guys don't even care and are happy to either go to the gym or just get high at home. When me and my friends were their age (like 21) this would be unheard of on a weekend!
And the much younger girls i know tend to just pre game at home for a huge part of the night to save money and MAYBE pop out too a club really late
This is kind of a different angle. I've always believed that it's way more 'cliquey' here and people go out in their groups and actuvely avoid talking to random people lol. That's why I used to love going over to the US to game! The girls were noticeably more friendly and approachable. (yes my accent helped, but I noticed it with American guys approaching girls too).
I remember the 'love systems' coaches writing an article about this once and I completely agreed. He said it was like in the US, you walk up too a girl in a bar and say 'hey, I'm Andy' and most will smile and be like 'Hey Andy, i'm Rebecca! How are you?' and they said that in the UK, 'hey, I'm Andy' is met with a look of pure disdain and confusion as she kind of backs away haha
From what I read on here from Americans, it's sounds like maybe it's becoming a bit more like how the UK is in that respect. I'll get my answer when I go there to game next, I guess
That being said, there's still a TONNE of super hot young targets every single time I go bar hopping. My eyes are constantly popping out of my head.