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South London residents have slammed plans by the firm behind clubs including Printworks and Drumsheds to put on events in a former newspaper warehouse near their homes.
Spaces & Stories Limited, the venue arm of Broadwick Group, has asked Lewisham Council for permission to serve booze from 8am to 10.30pm six days a week during events at Deptford Storehouse.
Up to 500 people could attend events at the building on Grove Street under the proposals. At a council licensing meeting on Wednesday (February 26), people living locally raised fears the venue would ruin the peaceful feel of the neighbourhood and lead to a rise in crime.
Gizella Suki, who has lived in the area for 17 years, said: “This area is completely unsuitable for crowds of up to 500 people to come and go. I believe this number of people will increase the crime rate in the area and residents will potentially become collateral damage to this.
“Anyone likely to say ‘yes’ to this application should consider if they would like 500 people, up to four times a day in the area, a few metres away from their own homes.”
Sophie Greaves, who has been a resident of the neighbourhood since 2015, said: “I fully object to this going ahead. […] It’s so quiet here. If the events [are] taking over the summer, we’re going to have our windows open. It’s incredibly stressful and upsetting for residents… It’s a big shed. It’s not sound insulated.”
Malcolm Cadman, a community worker, said the venue wouldn’t provide any benefits to local people. Referring to the 8am start time on the proposed alcohol licence, he added: “I don’t have any alcohol for my breakfast. I may go for a drink at lunchtime or in the evening but that’s quite different. This is not really aimed at local people whatsoever.”
Spaces & Stories Limited originally asked permission from the council to host music events at the venue for thousands of people. But the firm later let go of the live music plans and downsized the maximum capacity to 500 people, in order to get the council’s licensing team to drop their objection to the application. The changes weren’t enough to persuade the Met Police to drop its opposition to the venue.
Michael Feeney, representing police, told the meeting: “The premises is already in a high crime area, attracting this number of people into the area will only make this worse. […] If you have hundreds of people going to this premises late at night then there’s the potential for them to become victims of crime as well.”
Paddy Whur, representing Spaces & Stories Limited, said the firm was the ‘industry leader’ in ‘converting big sheds into environments that are culturally important and creative and safe’.
He added that the firm had a noise management plan for the venue which would prevent disturbance to local residents and emphasised that alcohol wasn’t the ‘prime focus’ of events.
Other venues in Spaces & Stories portfolio include Drumsheds, a 15,000-capacity club and events space housed in a former Ikea store in Tottenham; The Beams, a 6,420-capacity space in a former warehouse at the Royal Docks; and the 3,000 capacity Freight Island in Manchester city centre.
The council’s licensing committee will release its decision on the application in the coming days.
