You may have heard recently of the plight of the famous gay pub The Joiner’s Arms on Hackney Road. New licensing proposals seek to restrict its opening hours from 4am on the weekends to 12.30am every night of the week, effectively killing its main business revenue.
But all over London right now there have recently been licensing reviews, often in areas with a large concentration of gay venues, such as Dalston and Vauxhall. QX decided to get to the heart of what’s going on, try and ascertain why, and how it could affect the capital’s nightlife scene…
By Patrick Cash (Twitter.com/@paddycash)
‘We’re being offered a chance of respectability in bourgeois terms and we’re expected to behave like we’re petty bourgeois,’ emphatically states David Pollard, charismatic owner of the much loved Joiner’s. ‘What it does to London I think, is it makes it a less attractive place to be, a less enjoyable place to be.’
Since it was abruptly announced a few weeks ago that the Met police had requested a review of its licensing hours from Tower Hamlets Council, the campaign to save The Joiner’s Arms has soared from strength to strength. 2,500 people have signed the online petition and many of its regular customers have joined in the effort to raise awareness, such as organising letter-writing nights to Tower Hamlets. The thing is, they say, The Joiner’s is not just a pub, it is a nightlife community.
David speaks of how his pub brings people together, not just as a safe haven for the LGBT residents living in the East End, but also for nationalities – at one point they had Palestinians and Israelis working together behind the bar, unired by The Joiner’s quintessential charm. Ex-staff speak happily of David throwing dinner in the pub on Christmas Day for those employees who couldn’t go back home to be with their families.
We contacted Tower Hamlets Council to contribute to this article, but they still hadn’t replied by the time we went to press.
The police’s involvement in the Joiner’s Arms case is allegedly because of a spate of mobile thefts at the venue, and a fight that occurred on the street outside last year. Up in Dalston, it is also stated that the police are behind Hackney Council’s proposed clampdown on new late night licenses in the area.
‘The overwhelming majority of licensees take their responsibility very seriously indeed,’ said Matthew Horne, Hackney’s police borough commander in a statement on his Tumblr account. ‘Some don’t. Some choose profits first and the wellbeing and safety of their patrons second. That’s when we step in and ask for a review of their license conditions. This may mean improving security and CCTV or varying the opening hours.’
Yet the Joiner’s Arms has recently installed an entirely new CCTV system at the local police’s bequest, and now the force has still gone ahead with calling for a licensing review. Ultimately, restricting the venues’ opening hours isn’t going to stop the crime that might have occurred at these venues. Increased security and CCTV might do – restrict the venue’s hours and the crime will simply move elsewhere, on to the streets or to another venue.
A large focus behind the moves in Vauxhall seems to be drugs. Councillor Jack Hopkins, cabinet member for safer and stronger neighbourhoods, is quoted as saying: ‘If [venues’] operations bring drug-dealing, anti-social behaviour or nuisance to an area… We have a responsibility to residents and other businesses to intervene.’
Proposals that have hit the headlines in particular have been suggested measures to limit trading hours to 2am. These kinds of licensing restrictions do not appear to be the answer to tackling drugs or residents’ health in relation to drugs. As with crime, stop the clubs and the drugs will simply move elsewhere. The problem is not the clubs; the problem, where there may be one in London’s gay scene, is a particular mindset and an appetite and restricting licensing is not going to deter this mentality.
Lambeth Council were, incidentally, strangely economical with their answers to requests for information in the writing of this piece. They replied on behalf of Councillor Hopkins that ‘there is no current licensing review, nor proposals for one in Vauxhall’, omitting to mention that the public consultation for a licensing review had just recently closed on October 7th. When I asked whether the results of this public consultation may affect licensing in the area, I received no reply at the time of going to press.
Accusations that this is an anti-gay issue in Vauxhall were dismissed by Mark Oakley of The Eagle: ‘I feel strongly that this is an anti-social behaviour issue, NOT an anti-gay issue and would not want it to become hijacked as such. It is important for all of us who rely on the nighttime economy for our livelihoods, to be united in our aim to keep the area clean, safe and to remain a destination that people feel safe to visit.’
What all of us – residents, landlords, police, clubbers, councils – might need to remember is that there are two communities in each borough of London, that of the day and the night, and neither one should be unfairly singled out. Even in Soho, many nighttime businesses have had alleged run-ins with Westminster Council. Chris Amos of Manbar states: ‘Where Manbar is located we actually provide safety to this part of Westminster. Our security team have even caught pick-pocketers… I do feel the council could actually be more cooperative in helping us improve and grow our businesses.’
Much of London’s vibrancy and greatness comes from its existence as a twenty-four hour city and, whilst unfortunately crime and drugs may be sometimes attendant on its evening scene, to strip it of that evening scene is to dilute its richness. Keeping us all safe and happy should always be a priority, so let’s work together to target crime and help problematic drug-users, whilst not letting our venues become regretful casualties of either bureaucratic statistics or a small minority’s foul play.
‘Save the Joiners’ poster by arist Sina Sparrow. See more of his work at Boy Crazy Boy.
