Camden News - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS Published: 14 August 2008
Round the clock bid for therapy
A “NEW-age” therapy centre in Camden Market will learn next week whether it can stay open for 24 hours a day.
Alchemy centre in Stables Market has asked the Town Hall for a licence that would allow it to operate at all hours, seven days a week.
The licence would allow for live music and dancing but managers say the emphasis of the business is on “spiritual calm and relaxation”.
There is no application to serve alcohol and workshops will concentrate on Gong healing, life coaching and “aura revitalisation”.
Alchemy’s solicitor Mark Browning said: “The application has been made on a 24-hour basis as sessions often start very early in the morning (5am). Accommodation numbers are limited and disruption to anyone outside the centre is likely to be minimal as the ethos is on spiritual calm and relaxation.”
However, not everyone is in favour of an all- night, all-singing and all-dancing licence.
In a letter to licensing chiefs, Police Sergeant Robert Dear said the request was “excessive and inappropriate” and said the licence should only be granted if the hours were reduced and conditions applied. “It is strange that a premises claiming to be a “centre for personal transformation” where the “ethos is on spiritual calm and relaxation” should make a request to open for live music and dancing 24 hours a day, every day,” he added.
Councillors will judge the application at a meeting on Monday.