Two-day hearing to consider Brixton Academy future

A two-day meeting will take place next week to decide the future of Brixton Academy, it has been confirmed.

Members of Lambeth Council's Licensing Sub-Committee will consider whether the venue’s operator, Academy Music Group (AMG), should be allowed to reopen the venue under a modification of its current licence following a fatal crush last December, or if its licence should be revoked as requested by the Metropolitan Police.

A statement released on the council’s website says the hearing must take place “before any proposals to reopen the venue can be considered”.

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• Brixton Academy remains closed for health and safety review

The meeting, which is scheduled for Monday (11 September) and Tuesday (12 September), will hear from representatives of AMG and the Metropolitan Police, while members of the public will also be given the chance to comment.

The committee will also consider additional documents provided by the police force in private sessions, including footage from CCTV recordings.

AMG submitted its request to update its current premises licence to the council on 22 March. It has since submitted a series of planning applications, including the replacement of eight fire doors and the installation of a tannoy system and new crowd control barriers.

Metropolitan Police applied for a review of the venue’s licence on 17 April, where it called for the premises to be closed as it had “lost faith” in AMG.

No events have taken place at the venue since the crush. It has been officially closed since a Licensing Sub-Committee meeting held on 16 January 2023, where the committee imposed a condition that “no licensable activities shall take place at the premises unless and until an application to vary the premises licence” is made and granted.

Possible outcomes

According to an agenda item uploaded onto the council’s website, the Licencing Sub-Committee has several options when considering the future of the venue.

These include removing AMG from the licence, suspending the licence for a period not exceeding three months and revoking the licence entirely.

It could also modify the conditions of AMG’s licence, or exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the premises licence, which can be done either permanently or for a specified time period.

The council’s agenda pack says four representations have been received in support of the police’s review application. They outline concerns including the failure to establish what actually happened during the crush and says there were lapses in the operation of the venue, which may have led to the event.

Meanwhile, 25 representations have been received against the review application, from both organisations and members of the public, stating closing the venue would not be a proportionate response.

These submissions add Brixton Academy’s closure would impact the local economy and could lead to an increase in nuisance, crime and illegal events taking place.

According to the report pack, the committee is also aware of an online petition supporting Brixton Academy which has received in excess of over 115,000 signatures. It has also received approximately 17,900 identical representations from the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), supporting the venue’s reopening under an enhanced licence.

NTIA has said the hearing is “a critical moment for the venue as its will determine its future, and will require as much support as possible throughout this hearing”.

The trade group has also asked as many people as possible to speak at the hearing: “The more voices and people attending the stronger the representation”.