Hawley Wharf comments on license applications

21 June 2019

I write this representation as a social housing tenant in Gilbeys Yard and in my capacity as chair of the Camden Town With Primrose Hill Ward Police Safer Neighbourhood Panel

Representative of Gilbeys Yard Tenants and Residents Association and The Henson Building Residents Association

Steering group representative for Oval Road Estate

Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator.

Community safety is my unpaid business.

Here are some reasons for requesting the refusal of these 50 Hawley Wharf licenses

1. It was planned and built with the knowledge that it was in a cumulative impact policy area that has the presumption to refuse all license applications, since 2005. There is no plausible exemption for any of these licenses at Hawley Wharf, just as with Building C *, Camden Market are being extremely rude in applying for all these licenses and we should not feel unreasonable in refusing them this time.
2. It is in a controlled drinking zone in a major trouble spot for street drinking and anti social behaviour which also attracts drugs and criminals. The additional funded community wardens and Police officers that LabTech Camden Market have contributed towards, does not purchase exceptions to policies. This extra security is focused on around the businesses that contribute to the BID and can be seen to be pushing the problem into the residential areas. The extra funding is not long term but licenses are and the best way to make the community safe is not to add any more alcohol to the problem.
3. It is in a ward that has long suffered severe anti social behaviour from drugs and alcohol without proportional resources to the footfall to cope with existing alcohol related issues, let alone more. The residential areas rarely see Police, which makes it impossible to tackle our own criminal problems within the residential community and what we do see is lost visitors either looking for licensed venues or excessively drunk from licensed venues lost in our neighbourhoods leaving a trail alcohol containers, broken glass, urine and vomit that we face in the morning.
4. The Camden Market landowners and their tenants have a well documented history of badly managed licensed premises that have caused years of public nuisance with noise and anti social behaviour leading to violence spilling onto our streets. They rudely encroach on residential areas with chaotic deliveries that further confuse GPS mapping that end up further directing loud trucks and customer into residential areas.

There is promising new environmentally friendly elements of Mr Sagi’s LabTech Camden Markets, for instance, the LabTech creative office sharing business called LABS. We have been able to engage and problem solve with Liam O'Hare Head of Licensing and Compliance and Jack Martin Head of Procurement with an improved Camden Market security team. This gives us a glimmer of hope of a future for Camden Town without so much dependence on alcohol sales with nicer visitors that aren't so antisocial and violent.

However, that does not mean that it is safe to trust LabTech more licenses, because full progress is held back by their terrible leasehold tenants that can't be trusted with licensed activities on the LabTech Camden Market estate. We have documented, reported and suffered them over the past 9 years. They have illegally occupied and run 2 aggressive nightclubs in Camden Market's last major building development, which was built in 2005, in the Stables Market. A 4 storey building with 2 sub level basements called Building C *. This building is known for its inability to contain the Gilgamesh nightclub audio or customers nor the Shaka Zulu nightclub, both under the management of LabTech leaseholders “Camden Dining” (recently rebranded as “Enhanced Hospitality”). This is relevant to my Hawley Wharf representation because Building C* had planning conditions not to allow any persons in the building from midnight until 8am the next morning. To prevent the building being used as a nightclub or casino. With full knowledge of this condition, Camden Market applied for and were granted licenses past midnight until 2 - 3am for those two nightclubs. This disturbed and sleep deprived the neighbouring residential amenity for 14 years and 9 years respectively.

Personally, their anti social activities deprived my late partner's final year, the quiet enjoyment of her home, and dignity in the last days of her life, along with other vulnerable neighbours in these social housing estates. They are no longer with us, but there's many vulnerable housebound disabled living here right now, that you, our licensing guardians, can protect this time by simply applying the cumulative impact policy with its presumption to refuse any further licenses in this community.

This is an illustration of the price that people pay when the council gets its decisions wrong and fails its electorate.

To the great relief of the Gilbeys Yard residential community, Gilgamesh closed in January 2018. The use of that 1st Floor Building C * then changed to a LabTech LABS office sharing event space with an elaborate moving partition wall scheme allowing variable internal layouts and uses. Despite my reports, Camden Council again made the mistake of licensing this premises in contradiction of the planning conditions for that building. Planning are fully aware of major changes made by LabTech and that there is no planning permission, as LabTech just withdrew their planning application and have left it unresolved to date. A major change of use on the 1st Floor of Building C *, Stables Market that has a heavy impact on the Gilbeys Yard neighbourhood.

As a consequence of the change of use made to 1st Floor Building C, Gilbeys Yard is suffering unreasonable heavy truck traffic on our residential yard now, as it is used as a through route and loading bay for the large events now taking place in that premises, and other market services and staff accessing through the rear escape route onto Gilbeys Yard compromising the Build C fire escape there, when loading for that building was allocated in planning to be via Stables Market gate and Camden Lock Place is the main market access point. We continue to suffer Shaka Zulu staff disturbance and encroachment on our residential area, particularly the nightclub security staff parking around homes and being loud back to vehicles with shouting, horns and audio in the early hours of the morning.

The fact is that Camden Market rudely apply for licenses that they have no right to, and the council have failed to protect their community from this licensing and planning abuse that causes years of suffering to residents. The vulnerable social housed will continue to be abused if the council cannot enforce the regulatory policies that exist to protect them.

Shaka Zulu continue to operate a nightclub in the basement and sub basement of Building C * past midnight until at least 2am with unprofessional "security" staff lingering until 3 - 4am causing Gilbeys Yard Estate sleep deprivation in Morrisons car park next to our homes and in Gilbeys Yard where they illegally park. They return to these vehicles very late and loud at the end of their shifts from the unjustly licensed Shaka Zulu nightclub, sounding horns at each other with loud car audio at the end of their shifts around 2 - 3am in convoy they accelerate out of the supermarket car park or our yard.

THE PLANNING CONDITIONS OF BUILDING C * WERE PUT IN PLACE TO PROTECT OUR HOMES FROM EXACTLY THIS SORT OF ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR. THE CONDITION NOT ALLOWING PEOPLE IN THAT BUILDING FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL 8AM THE NEXT MORNING WOULD HAVE DONE THE JOB, BUT LICENSING FAILED TO HONOUR THOSE PROTECTIVE PLANNING CONDITIONS AND KNOWINGLY REPEATED THE MISTAKE AGAIN IN 2018, GIVING 1ST FLOOR BUILDING C * A NEW LICENSE TO OPERATE LATER THAN MIDNIGHT. BOTH BUSINESS LICENSES SHOULD HAVE BE VOIDED WHEN THIS WAS REPORTED TO THE COUNCIL LAST YEAR. Instead Camden Market are so emboldened by the councils inability to uphold its policy that they have the gall to apply for these 50 licenses now.

When Gilgamesh finally closed after 13 years, just as I was preparing 3 years of evidence of issues for a license review, the Camden Dining team that ran Gilgamesh, were given the lease of the Horse Hospital premises by LabTech where Proud had operated, disturbing the homes of the residents on that side of Chalk Farm Road. That Gilgamesh management team now run a licensed nightclub called Fest in that LabTech property, with the blatantly unauthorised use of the Stables Market wall as a “roof terrace” outdoor event venue with bar, cinema and live performances and DJ’s on it, which are audible all the way across Morrisons car park in Gilbeys Yard, and right next to 200 social residents, in Juniper Crescent Estate. They now suffer this rude unpermitted use of the Stables Market wall, just as that management team so rudely encroached on Gilbeys Yard and Morrisons car park when they were in in Building C * as Gilgamesh imposing their loud glass waste and anti social customers and staff regularly at 3am for hours by our homes.

Now, that same management company, Enhanced Hostility, have been given the Dingwalls licensed premises, including Lock 17 and the Canalside Bar on the LabTech Middle Yard, Camden Market. Here, they have caused noise nuisance evey bank holiday so far this year, and I have sacrificed those bank holiday weekends to monitor, document and report their public nuisance, to make sure the council have the evidence they need to protect the neighbouring residential amenity from LabTech Camden Market leasehold tenants and their own LabTech LABS outdoor amplified events on these yard in the summer, like the unbearable world cup events on Camden Lock Place last year.

On that subject, the day after this 21st June deadline for submitting representations for these 50 Hawley Wharf licenses, LabTech Camden Market are bringing back an awful series of events that they had stopped for the past 3 years, another public nuisance in the form of 20 outdoor amplified nightclubs on the middle yard cobbles that they call “Solomons Yard” which is a themed celebration of 1920’s alcohol prohibition and gang culture insensitively positioned in the Camden Lock area canalside where we have suffered years of drug gangs and alcoholic anti social behaviour through the summer nights depriving the sleep of over 200 homes that I represent in Gilbey Yard Estate, The Henson Building, Oval Road Estate along with hundreds more neighbours in Gilbey House and Lock House on the canal also. Many of these residents are vulnerable housebound disabled and children, that certain members of LabTech Camden Market are willing will force their aggressive sub bass on, from this uncontainable outdoor yard, that are licensed with the abuse of Temporary Event Notices (TENs) just as they did 3 years ago which we suffered and reported to the council between 2014 and 2016. The fact that there are still people in LabTech with poor enough judgement to bringing back this event, is enough reason for me not to trust this business with any more licenses, especially the 2 restaurants on the roof of Hawley Wharf where the sound will emit over so many homes and LabTech could easily lease them to Camden Dining/Enhanced Hospitality any time in the future.

Camden Market's disrespect of Camden Council Planning and Licensing is made fact by history and this unacceptable application, along with their blatant disrespect for the residents that they likely wish had not come with the community they want to profit from.

This Hawley Wharf estate is by the same landowner and management as the Stables Market, North Yard and Lock Market, Middle and West Yards with Camden Lock Place in the middle where the issues I describe in this representation are located, and Hawley Wharf is an extension of these market areas by the same people therefore these licenses are equally at risk of being leased to the same anti social management company as Gilgamesh, Shaka Zulu, Proud/Fest and Dingwalls. This is why we cannot trust LabTech with any more licenses, instead we should be reviewing their existing licenses and not tolerate the disdain this management company shows toward their residential neighbours.

Liam O'Hare LabTech Head of Licensing and Compliance and Jack Martin LabTech Head of Procurement have shown with their LABS Camden House facility how they can end much of the anti social aspects that come with Enhanced Hospitality aka Camden Dining management but with LabTech continuing to lease licensed properties to these abusive businesses we cannot trust them with any more licenses (and the area licensing policy says that we don't have to anyway). That said, even with the improved LABs management and offer of Camden House, LabTech have been unable to stop their event clients' numerous big trucks from creating a public nuisance through our private residential yard with incessant reversing alarms and the blocking of access to others. There needs to be a hell of a lot more support and resources in place for Liam and Jack by LabTech without Enhanced Hospitality aka Camden Dining compromising all their efforts to rehabilitate the market into something creative and constructive that does not deprive its neighbours of a healthy living environment. LabTech are sadly not there yet, and so these licenses should not be given to them as it is too much of a risk to the community. They need to concentrate on fixing the damage that's been done to this community instead of this obsessive licensing.

While Camden Market retain the leaseholders and event managers that have been known to be so cruel to the residential community all these years, they cannot be trusted with the licenses they have, let alone any new ones.

The council has let many people down by allowing these businesses to destroy the environment the way they have. All we ask is that policy is adhered to so it can provide the protection it’s meant to.

These developers knew they were building in an area that does not give any more licenses, therefore it is their responsibility to create a development plan that is not dependent on licensing at all. We are not being unreasonable, they are, in asking for these licenses.

Please be confident in refusing these licenses

Thank you

Mark Neal

me@markneal.co

Police Safer Neighbourhood Panel - Chair - Camden Town with Primrose Hill Ward - CTwithPHSNP@gmail.com - www.CTwithPHSNP.uk

TRACT Network Member - TRACTnetwork@gmail.com - www.TRACT.network

Gilbeys Yard Tenants & Residents Association - Repairs, Maintenance & Issues Representative - GilbeysYardTRA@gmail.com - www.GilbeysYardTRA.TRACT.network

The Henson Building Residents Association - TheHensonBuilding@gmail.com - www.TheHensonBuilding.TRACT.network

Oval Road Estate Steering Group Representative - OvalRoadEstate@gmail.com - www.OvalRoadEstate.TRACT.network

Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator

* Link to information on Building C the previous development on Camden Market

those who do not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it