Photo: Press
London's legendary Farbric nightclub has been saved from closure, after a court ruling has forced them to hire seven £300-a-night sniffer dogs.
Earlier this week, the club's future looked uncertain, after officials took a stand against the fact that four people have died following drug use in the club in the last three years - with two recent MDMA-related deaths. A further four have collapsed. Given the venue holds 1600 a night, these numbers may appear small but the police were “seriously consider[ing] revoking the club’s license."
Now, after a court ruling, Fabric looks set to become the first London club to hire sniffer dogs on a regular basis - costing £300 for a 4-hour shift. As the Evening Standard reports, Fabric has agreed to hire seven per night.
"They will need seven dogs per night because they can only work for a certain number of hours," said Fabric's solicitor, Paddy Whur.
However, the club's owners have vowed to fight the decision.
"We fundamentally disagree on a number of key points”, they said. "In 15 years we have had six million people come through the doors and sadly there have been four deaths.”
Earlier this week, they issued the following full statement in their defence:
"Fabric opened in October of 1999 and we’ve remained open over the 15 years since. Throughout this time, although the Farringdon area has changed, we've always prided ourselves on being a visible, approachable and integral part of the local community. Taking great lengths to work alongside and dialogue with local businesses and organisations we work tirelessly to ensure the safety of our patrons, at all times. We've run highly visible warning campaigns tackling numerous issues including drug use, safer travel, our harassment awareness initiative run in cooperation with Hollaback LDN and our Phone Safety campaign (which is now recognisable city-wide across London).
"In short, we care deeply about the welfare of our patrons. fabric has always operated a zero tolerance drugs policy and we’re proud to continue to be open and honest in assisting the police with any incident investigations.
We employ two trained medics who are on site for the duration of all of our club events and, as a venue, we provide free water and non-judgmental advice from bar staff, stewards and security teams. The incidents referred to in the Met Police’s report are truly tragic events; incidents that we assure you our team reacted to in the quickest possible and most efficient manner - our medical staff have since been commended by senior coroners on their “impressive” and “quite extraordinary” level of expertise.
"As a team we've all felt the shock and horror that a death on our premises can cause. We don’t take it lightly; in fact, we’re constantly adapting our protocols in direct reaction to them in the hope that these are changes we can make to our operational policy that will prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.
"Our hearts and thoughts really do go out to all the friends and families of those involved."
Recent London venue closures have seen music lovers say goodbye to the Astoria, Cable, Madame Jojo's, the Hammersmith Palais, Buffalo Bar and 12 Bar.
