Hackney council clamps down on nightlife with new curfew

Nightlife in the London borough of Hackney is under threat after the local council voted in favour of a clamp-down, including curfews and prevention of granting of new licences.

Packed with restaurants, bars and nightclubs, Hackney is one of London’s most vibrant areas for late night entertainment but most venues will now need to adhere to curfews from 11pm on weekdays and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Restaurants will be permitted to remain open for an extra hour later, while takeaways will be expected to close at 11pm or midnight depending on their location.

The council also voted in favour of extending Shoreditch’s special policy area (SPA), which means that in the case of license extensions, venue owners must prove that their continued operation will not cause anti-social behaviour.

Almost 78% of the local residents and businesses who responded to the council’s consultation report were against expansion of Shoreditch’s SPA and 84.3% were against the proposed curfews.

Speaking to The Times, Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality, said: “This will inevitably make the scene in Hackney much less vibrant and much less diverse. The council are effectively putting up a big sign saying ‘Hackney is not open for business’.”

Nicholl’s sits on the Mayor of London’s night time commission, established to realise Sadiq Khan’s vision of a ‘24-hour London’, said the decision “runs counter to the entire thrust of the mayor’s vision”.

In defence of the decision, Hackney council’s licensing chair, Emma Plouviez, said: “[Hackney’s nightlife] has grown, it is becoming more and more difficult to manage and to strike a balance between supporting our late-night venues and the needs of residents who live amongst them.”

Campaign group We Love Hackney, made up of business owners, clubgoers and locals, said the changes would make Shoreditch become “as soulless as Leicester Square”.

The group, which successfully saw off similar plans three years ago, said of the curfews: “In the most creative borough in the world’s greatest 24-hour city, it is laughable to expect people to go home at 11pm in the week and midnight at weekends. Laws limiting hours to that extent were first brought in during the First World War but removed by the Licensing Act 2003.”