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Rev Jennifer Potter |
‘SLEAZE’ FEARS AS CLUBBERS MOVE IN
Alarm at drunks in road that houses historic Wesley’s Chapel
A HISTORIC stretch of City Road risks being turned into an “entrenched area of sleaze”, according to campaigners fighting plans by the nightclub Piya Piya to expand and open until 4am.
The alert was sounded as police welcomed a move towards tighter security at a second nightclub, Worship, in Finsbury Square, scene of two shootings in September and November last year.
Objectors have voiced concern about an invasion of clubbers into the area of Finsbury that houses historic Wesley’s Chapel, Bunhill Fields graveyard and the Honourable Artillery Company.
High-flying executives, hedge-fund managers, solicitors, an artist, a minister, a leading cancer specialist and a firm of architects have written to Islington Council protesting at plans to extend the hours of Piya Piya nightclub in City Road. Its application is due to be heard on Monday.
Many of the objectors are from 96-flat luxury Lexington Apartments, where a two-bed home fetches £600,000.
Piya Piya wants to increase its capacity from 140 to 200 and stay open until 3am Monday to Thursday and 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Hedge-fund manager Joe Seet says: “The short distance of City Road between Old Street roundabout and Finsbury Square now runs the risk of being an entrenched area of sleaze, especially if this licensing application is permitted along with the application to operate a pole-dancing gentlemen’s club at the end of the Travelodge building. As the location of the venerable Wesley’s Chapel, the well-cared-for Bunhill graveyard and the wonderful grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company, this short distance of road deserves respect.”
Warning that it is only a matter of time before someone is stabbed, he says the area is degenerating “especially at night when drunks and ladies of leisure wander along the main street”.
Professor Frances Balkwill, an oncologist at St Barts Hospital and The London Queen Mary School of Medicine and Dentistry, has described the scene when she goes out to buy a newspaper on a Sunday morning.
“The streets are disgusting – always vomit and urine, half-eaten food, bottles, cans, broken glass,” she says.
“I have no objection to the clubs in Shoreditch – they make it a vibrant and interesting area. But City Road itself is certainly degenerating in the area of the Old Street roundabout.”
Rev Jennifer Potter, minister at Wesley’s Chapel, says clubbers had parked across the church entrance, blocking important deliveries and access for emergency service vehicles.
She said: “We’re a pilgrimage site for people from all over the world. If they come on a Sunday and see sandwiches on the ground and vomit outside it’s not the best impression for Islington.”
Office manager Mari McMorrough Kavanagh complains that architects in her office above the club were unable to work because of the noise.
She says: “Our teams work well into the night... The speakers for [Piya Piya’s] music are on the ceiling and the noise that comes up into our space is unacceptable to our firm.”
Professor Norman Miller complains about how noise from the club has affected his four-year-old daughter.
“A few times we have moved into our reception room, on the other side of the building, to sleep on the sofa,” he says.
“Our little girl has found the noise very distressing, holding her ears and pleading that we do something about it.”
Neighbour Andrew Lloyd maintains the situation in the area has become “intolerable”.
“City Road didn’t used to be like this,” he says. “Put bluntly, as local taxpayers we deserve better.”
A request by Islington police to review the licence of Worship nightclub will also be considered on Monday.
A police report describes how, just after 4am on September 23 last year, a fight broke out inside the club. The officer’s notes read: “Champagne bottles being used as weapons. A shot was then fired and the victim was hit in the leg.”
A second note reads: “On November 25 at 2.45am a male was shot in the stomach inside the venue.”
PC Mark Usher’s report states that, to prevent further shootings, the club’s owner has been willing to add 21 new conditions to his licence, including asking all customers for ID and employing 18 doormen.
The police report adds that, if the new security is strictly applied, further firearms incidents should be prevented. It warns that, if this fails, the licence should be revoked.
Worship’s owner Jason Julien said he has transformed the club since the shootings and only hosts corporate events at weekends.
He added: “Islington’s licensing officers said they don’t want the R’n’B and hip-hop crowd so we stopped that, even though we’re suffering tremendously financially. We’re following what the police and Islington Council want.”
A representative of Piya Piya was unavailable for comment. |
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