Police stop plan for rooftop event ending at 11 on a Sunday morning

Brixton rooftop

Police objections to an event at the open-air Brixton Rooftop venue that would have ended at 11am on a Sunday morning mean that it will now end at 2am.

A Lambeth council spokesman said: “After discussions, the organisers agreed that the proposed event on January 20 would end at 2am. As a result the police withdrew their objection prior to the hearing”.

The deal was reached in talks between the police and promoters ahead of a meeting of Lambeth council’s licensing subcommittee last night (2 January). It was due to consider the police objection to  a “temporary event notice” for the event. Police had said that the planned end time raised “serious concerns”.

The application to Lambeth council was a for a club event followed by a “silent disco” – in which participants listen to DJs via headphones – on January 20/21.

Police said that a “terminal hour” of 11am for an event with regulated entertainment and the sale of alcohol “would require serious assurances as to how the licensing objectives will be upheld” and that the application did not contain such assurances.

A background statement for the council’s licensing sub-committee said that the council is aware from conversations with Brixton Rooftop that it “is most likely relocating in the new year”.

Sports Direct bought the site that contains the rooftop for £11,750,000 in June last year.

This police objection was the latest in a series that follows growing concern about noise and anti-social behaviour after events in the area.

The Sleepless Brixton campaign has discussed the issue with the council, police, Transport for London and others, and the Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) recently launched a new campaign against street urination.

Concern about noise and anti-social behaviour in Brixton began to mount after the launch of the night tube enabled thousands of people from outside the area to enjoy its many venues at weekends.

Campaigners say that, as well as generating noise and anti-social behaviour, these visitors also attract amplified busking and illegal traders in the early hours.