Dozens of rival nightspots have united to defend jobs and livelihoods from crippling business rates rises.
An open letter signed by every member of the police-backed city-centre safety group Unight Aberdeen is the latest in a string of appeals for action by the Scottish Government.
It will be handed to Finance Secretary Derek Mackay when he visits the Granite City for a showdown with furious north-east company bosses.
Firms have been hit by a sudden increase in rates just as the oil and gas downturn has left them struggling to stay afloat.
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce is orchestrating a mass protest and campaign for reliefs to cushion the blow.
The SNP administration at Holyrood has so far declined to match the protection offered in England to those facing particularly steep rises.
Unight chairman, Stuart McPhee, said the hospitality sector was “at a loss” at having another hurdle put in the way of its survival.
The Siberia Vodka Bar and City Centre Hotel boss will have to find another £23,000 a year from April – a 43% increase – a rise dwarfed by those facing others.
One family-owned plant hire firm’s bill is to go up almost four times to just short of £1million.
Mr McPhee said: “Jobs will undoubtedly be lost and we would be submissive if we sat back and did nothing about this.”
In the letter Unight, which works with the police and council to minimise alcohol-fuelled disorder, said it was “of the utmost importance that we draw to the public attention the plight we face”.
“Some of our venues face a rise of up to 300%, and we cannot stand idly by and allow this to go past unchallenged,” they said.
“These exponential increases threaten to weaken an already decimated nighttime economy within a city that has endured a lengthy economic downturn and has already seen some hospitality venues go out of business or into administration.
“This money will have to be found somewhere by those who can, which means job cuts or price increases in simple terms. But what of those businesses who cannot afford their increases?
“They will join the list of names that we have seen disappear from the city’s hospitality industry, followed by the ripple effects that will be felt by suppliers further down the chain with fewer bars, fewer nightclubs, fewer restaurants and fewer bars to supply.
“The tower of cards will collapse on itself.”
