Wharf Chambers Licence Misery
Tagged as: free_spacesNeighbourhoods: leeds
On Monday the 10th of October Wharf Chambers, a new workers co-operative based in Leeds, had its entertainment license hearing. The result of the hearing has now been made public.
The three councillors granted the not-for-profit space a license on the grounds that they closed at 11pm, had two registered door staff and full CCTV throughout the building (full conditions are available by seaching the council website or the minutes from the hearing). According to the councillors, "proportionality is just a word".
Background and related stories:on the Wharf Chambers co-op / cafe and the closing of the Common Place.

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This is a very restricted entertainment license compared to the license that The Common Place was granted (where sale of alcohol was allowed until 5am). The councillors have imposed very harsh limits, in part due to threats previously made to The Common Place by right-wing groups and thus, effectively, are punishing the new co-operative for the misfortunes of their predecessors.
Many clubs in Leeds are filled with drunken people on a Friday or Saturday night and fights are common. There are often times when police intervention occurs outside clubs like Tiger Tiger or Oceana. The Common Place, which was located in the same building as Wharf Chambers, received a license in 2006, since which time there were no incidents that required police intervention.
Many residents of Leeds feel unsafe at the mainstream clubs and in the streets around them. Wharf Chambers has been designed to offer a safer alternative; by the applicaton of these inappropriate conditions the council is effectively denying this alternative to the residents of, and visitors to, Leeds.