Petitions launched to keep Dance Tunnel open

  • Share
  • An online campaign has been started to try and get Hackney Council to review its legislation, but the club insists its future "lies elsewhere."
  • Petitions launched to keep Dance Tunnel open image
  • An online petition has been set up asking Hackney Council to reconsider the licensing laws that have forced East London's Dance Tunnel to close, though the club says it plans to "regroup and look further afield to find a space where we are subject to fewer compromises." News of the closure broke yesterday via Facebook, with the club's representatives stating that "the licensing climate in Hackney has made it impossible for us to get the hours we need to make Dance Tunnel sustainable in the long term." The club has said it will close in August 2016. The Change.Org petition, which was started by journalist Martin Clark (AKA Blackdown) and has a target of 2,500 signatures, asks Hackney Council to re-review the legislation surrounding closing times, as well as considering the "long term positive creative, cultural and economic value of London's nightlife." A similar petition has been launched via 38 Degrees titled "Save London's Dance Tunnel." Dance Tunnel, however, says it needs to "regroup and look further afield to find a space where we are subject to fewer compromises." The club provided RA with the following statement in response to the petitions: "We are extremely humbled by the response to yesterday's announcement, and the fact that Dance Tunnel means so much to so many people. It hasn't been an easy decision to make, but for us Dance Tunnel's future lies elsewhere—we still feel that London is still missing the club it truly deserves. We would like to offer our heartfelt and sincere thanks to everyone who has been in touch to offer support." A number of artists, many of who have played Dance Tunnel before, have come out in support of the Change.Org petition via social media.
    RA has reached out to Hackney Council for comment.
RA