This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Legal Live Business
East London’s Vibe Bar closing over licensing issues
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 23 October 2014
East London’s Vibe Bar is to close after a run in between the venue’s owners and local licensing authorities. Owners of the space, which was one of the clubbing venues that helped spearhead the 1990s economic revival of the Brick Lane area of London, say that current strict licensing laws have turned clubs in the area into “prisons with airport-style security”.
According to the Evening Standard, Vibe Bar owner Alan Miller called the licensing rules put in place by Tower Hamlets Council “petty minded”, adding that they had turned Brick Lane “into a quieter place” during clubbing hours. Meanwhile a clamp down on one-off licence extensions for special events had led to a 30% drop in business.
A spokesman for the local council, though, said that licensing regulations hadn’t actually changed, and that it remained a “strong supporter” of Brick Lane bars and clubs.
As previously reported, near by venue 93 Feet East was shut for a time last year after having its licence revoked by Tower Hamlets, but it was able to reopen after taking successful legal action against the local authority.
