Anger over Hammersmith Club

Wednesday May 5, 2010

Furious riverside residents say their lives have been made a misery by the Hammersmith Club's new programme of comedy nights and private venue hires.

The historic working men's club, which has been running for 150 years in Rutland Grove, introduced the new events late last year - including regular Jongleur's comedy nights on Saturdays nights - as a source of income to cover running costs.

But the newly formed Hammersmith Mall Residents' Association (Hamra) says the venue's private hires have sparked a huge surge in noisy and abusive latenight behaviour in the surrounding residential streets.

Hamra chairman Andrew Alers-Hankey said: "This has become a real menace for residents. Some of them are fairly elderly and they feel defenceless and vulnerable.

"You've got Digby Mansions, Rutland Grove and Mall Road and in the middle of it is effectively a nightclub. It's not ideal."

A group of Rutland Grove residents, talking anonymously to h&f news, said the club's new 1am licence and the sheer volume of people attending its events had made life unbearable in the street.

One resident said: "It's like sharing your garden with 100 people. I have been told to 'f*** off' when I have asked them to be quiet and my car has been jumped on.

"We never had much trouble with the old working men's club - it's since the theatre and new club opened its doors that the noise has become much worse."

He said the club's evening events had turned the idyllic part of Hammersmith into a noisy, dirty thoroughfare.

"I came to this area because it's by the river and it was clean and quiet," he said. "Previously, I would have friends in the garden but I would be too embarrassed now because of the noise. We've also found condoms, cigarette butts and beer cans in our garden."

Another resident living close to the club said: "They have big parties there and we've seen people injecting drugs. There is also vomit outside the gate and there have been some terrible fights there. But a lot of people are frightened and too timid to do anything about it."

A third resident believed the club's late liquor licence - which extends to midnight in the renovated theatre section and 1am in the regular clubhouse - had exacerbated problems with noisy behaviour and violence. " An 11pm licence like the pubs would be more fair," she said.

But Hammersmith Club secretary Alan Brodrick (pictured), 63, who introduced the private hire of club's facilities last year, said the events were 'crucial' for the club's financial survival.

"We're a charitable organisation and a lot of local residents are members of our club," he said. "We need this to survive.

"We will go to the wall if we cannot hire it out and this is our only option. I have turned away hundreds of gigs - rock bands, reggae bands - and we don't allow 18th or 21st birthdays.

"We only need a few hires a week to survive."

Alan said he had received no direct communication from Hamra but was happy to discuss the issue. "I am more than willing to arrange a meeting to talk."