The two day hearing that will determine the future of popular London live music venue Brixton Academy, and will determine whether or not the Academy Music Group (AMG) can continue to operate with their license there, took place on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th of September at Lambeth Town Hall. The licensing hearing concluded yesterday with the Lambeth Council agreeing “in principle” to the re-opening of the venue if a series of conditions are met.
The hearing occurred amidst an ongoing period of uncertainty for the Brixton Academy following the devastating crowd crush at an Asake show last December that ultimately claimed the lives of two people and left another in critical condition. The event forced the Academy to shut its doors and led to the venue having its live music license revoked. This in turn led to a backlash amongst fans of the beloved venue, leading to a petition to reopen its doors amassing quite the success.
The first day of the hearing led to the venue refusing the accusation of racial profiling, with AMG’s legal representative Mr Philip Kolvin QC quoted as saying, “My client is probably the leading host of music of Black origin in this country. That’s a position that it values and would like to continue to be. Of the 13 different risks assessed by the Academy, none of them are racial“.
Lambeth Council barrister Horatio Waller QC agreed with Kolvin on the second day of the hearing, saying, “This new process should not lead to a tunnel vision situation where risk is associated with genre or race“.
Waller also confirmed yesterday that the venue could be re-opened if certain conditions were met. He claimed that AMG have performed a “complete overhaul” of their security procedures and attitude towards risk assessments since December and that these were “independently audited” by consultants and commended as “comprehensive and robust“.
Waller also states that “the council supports, in principle, the re-opening of the venue based upon new conditions“, with these conditions including a “new, revised system for ingress entry into the venue” and the “introduction of new barriers positioned on the highway”.
Mr Kolvin QC discussed in his closing argument the installation of strengthened doors at the venue. He stated, “At the time of this incident, the doors were unable to withstand a mass and violent attack. In other words, the premises were not a fortress, they were a concert hall. Even if you consider the doors should have been more robust at an earlier stage, that is a matter of blame which is for other processes to investigate. It does not require these premises to shut down any more than any other public or private premises that are compulsorily closed following accidents, even terrible accidents. The doors have now been strengthened so as to be resilient against pressure, even if it did occur”.
Following the conclusion of the public hearing, Lambeth Council have advised that a decision on the future of the venue will be made “within five working days”, according to NME.
