Fabric Reportedly Facing Closure

In the latest in the line of ridiculous decisions regarding venue closures, it emerged today that fabric may be at risk of closure in the near future. Following a series of violent incidnents outside the venue, the local council has put its license up or review. Fortunately it does seem at the minute that the most likely solution will be a heightened level of security as opposed to the removal of the venue's license, but the recent climate of club closures does cast negotiations in a worrying light.

fabric sent us a statement earlier today, which we'll post in full below:

"fabric opened in October of 1999 and we’ve remained open over the 15 years since. Throughout this time, although the Farringdon area has changed, we've always prided ourselves on being a visible, approachable and integral part of the local community. Taking great lengths to work alongside and dialogue with local businesses and organisations we work tirelessly to ensure the safety of our patrons, at all times. We've run highly visible warning campaigns tackling numerous issues including drug use, safer travel, our harassment awareness initiative run in cooperation with Hollaback LDN and our Phone Safety campaign (which is now recognisable city-wide across London).

In short, we care deeply about the welfare of our patrons. fabric has always operated a zero tolerance drugs policy and we’re proud to continue to be open and honest in assisting the police with any incident investigations.

We employ two trained medics who are on site for the duration of all of our club events and, as a venue, we provide free water and non-judgmental advice from bar staff, stewards and security teams. The incidents referred to in the Met Police’s report are truly tragic events; incidents that we assure you our team reacted to in the quickest possible and most efficient manner – our medical staff have since been commended by senior coroners on their “impressive” and “quite extraordinary” level of expertise.

As a team we've all felt the shock and horror that a death on our premises can cause. We don’t take it lightly; in fact, we’re constantly adapting our protocols in direct reaction to them in the hope that these are changes we can make to our operational policy that will prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.

Our hearts and thoughts really do go out to all the friends and families of those involved."

A petition has launched to insist Islington Council renew fabric's license. Given the recent closures of Earl's Court and a worrying amount of other venues, it seems essentially to get behind one of London's premiere night spots as soon as possible.

Check out the Facebook page here and sign the petition here.