No more nights of passion in W14

Wednesday February 17, 2010

A controversial West Kensington nightclub linked to stabbings, drug dealing and lap dancing, has closed down.

Notices in the windows of the Crescent Club, on North End Crescent, appeared on Monday February 8, stating that the property is now in the hands of bailiffs. Two burly security guards are on site 24 hours a day along with a guard dog.

Passion Nights Limited, the club’s licensee, is due to appear at Companies Court on February 24 for a winding-up hearing.

But the closure has come as a surprise to local residents and even staff at the club. One member of staff, who didn’t wish to be named, said he had turned up for work only to find the club closed.

He said: “I don’t know what’s happened. I just turned up and there was no one here. They owe me money and I don’t know what to do. I have bills and the rent needs to be paid. Times are tough and now I need to find another job.”

He added that all attempts to contact his manager had been unsuccessful. H&F Council did however contact the club’s solicitor, Gerry Murphy, of Sebastians, but he was unavailable for comment. The freeholder of the building, MJP Properties, is now looking to transfer the licence to them.

Councillor Greg Smith, cabinet member for crime and street-scene, said: "Residents will be delighted to see the back of Passion Nights, especially as they have been calling for the company to be stripped of its licence. The law, which currently favours licensees rather than residents, means our hands have been tied on the matter.

“However we welcome the introduction of new laws in April, which will class lap dancing venues as sex establishments. This means that local residents, who know their neighbourhood better than anyone, will have more say in deciding whether venues are appropriate or not.”

“But right now, it seems that the fate of Passion Nights is in the lap of the gods."
 
Passion Nights Ltd drew criticism from residents in November 2008 when it applied for a variation of the licence to turn the then Fox Tavern into a lap-dancing venue, though this was refused by the council’s licensing sub-committee. On that occasion the council received more than 1,000 letters of objection from local people and a petition signed by 250 residents. Passion Nights Ltd appealed the decision but withdrew at the eleventh hour.

An attempt to lengthen the hours of the licence was also quashed in June last year when just days before, Ali Toprak , 32, was stabbed to death outside the Crescent Club’s entrance, following a Turkish themed evening there. Berkan Kart, 22, from Tottenham, will stand trial for murder and violent disorder in March. And at the start of this year, another man was stabbed on the street outside the bar in a mass brawl involving around 20 people.

Joe Carlebach, co-chair of the Avonmore & Brook Green Safer Neighbourhood Ward Panel, has lived in the area for nearly 17 years. He said that the bar had been ‘completely inappropriate’ for the residential area.

“We certainly don’t take any pleasure from a business closing, but this was a completely inappropriate venture from the start. If the club had done more to work with the community then maybe there wouldn’t have been so many problems, but they didn’t want to. They ended up completely alienating the community and completely misjudged things. 

“Given the history of this club, residents would be very wary of another similar venue opening up, and anyone coming here should know that residents will be heavily involved in the licensing process and will take it very seriously.”

In the first six months of the Crescent Club opening, there were three separate reports suggesting that drugs were being used both inside and outside the club, according to police. There was also an increase in public nuisance and disorder, and the council received 20 complaints about noise.

Residents who spoke at the licensing meeting in June 2009 said that the club had brought drug dealing back to the area, and that it often broke its licensing conditions by allowing customers into the bar after midnight. It was claimed that customers frequently fought in the street, and vomited and urinated on their doorsteps and in their gardens.