Published
Fri, Mar 18, 2022, 15:30
- Tower Hamlets Council contacted the two venues hosting the events this weekend, citing a 1982 law forbidding nudity and semi-nudity without the appropriate licence.
The future of London's sex-positive parties Klub Verboten and Crossbreed is at risk.
Earlier this week, the local council for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets contacted the venues E1 and Colour Factory, challenging their right to host parties with nudity or semi-nudity under their current licence. The authorities cited a government act from 1982.
Klub Verboten has a party at E1 tonight, March 18th, while Crossbreed continues its weekly residency at Colour Factory this Sunday. E1 was contacted first by the council, on Tuesday, March 15th.
Following the council's actions, Klub Verboten took to Instagram. "In this day and age, the council are seeking to dictate to informed, self-regulating adults what they can and, crucially, what they can't wear?" They posted. "Is the sight of an ankle, bare shoulders, buttocks, cleavage and bare chests matters of legitimate public interest?"
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council sent this comment to Resident Advisor. "[E1] is in a residential area and has a premises licence which allows for alcohol and entertainment. It does not have a sexual entertainment licence or a licence that would allow for nudity or partial nudity. We understand Klub Verboten is hosted by this venue and therefore what events take place in its premises has to be decided by the venue in line with its licence."
Yuval Hen, cofounder of E1, said the the crux of the dispute centres around to whom the nudity or semi-nudity clause applies. The council says it's the crowd, while E1 says it's paid sexual performers, such as strippers. There are no performers or performances of this kind at Klub Verboten.
"This condition isn't about what people are wearing when they come into the event," Hen said. "What am I meant to do? Check people's gender at the door and ask them,'are you a man or a woman?' Are you allowed to cover your nipples or not?' That's not up to me to check, although it's been pushed to be up to me."
He added: "I also don't think the council is coming from a bad place. They're coming from a place of, 'look this needs to regulated. What's allowed, what's not. So here is a letter saying that we feel, through our legal system, that this is a breach of conditions."
That said, Hen believes E1 is being made an example of, given how many similar club nights have been happening around London for the past 30 years. "I don't think they studied [Klub Verboten] enough to understand what's happening in those events [and] how long they've been going on all around London," he said.
For Karl, who founded Klub Verboten in 2016, this is the latest in a long line of setbacks and rejections from the local authorities.
"We've been trying to open a hub for the community since 2019," he told RA. "And we've had these battles with various councils, and surprisingly, we weren't able to have any form of adult conversation with anyone. They were always shut down in silence and not replied to. We made people go red."
Karl said the council's letter this week came as a "total surprise." When he received the news from E1, he jumped on the phone.
"I called [the council] multiple times," he said. "And whenever I called, I had a different councillor [and] I was presented with something completely different [...] So in the end, we just told all ticket holders to send a description of the outfit to Tower Hamlets licensing team and get it pre-approved."
Klub Verboten is going ahead tonight, but not in its usual form. There will be several restrictions in place.
"There can't be any play, sexual activity, BDSM-type play, nudity or semi-nudity," he said. "So we're going to run a fetish rave as a protest. We're turning this into a form of nighttime embassy, where we provide a lot of space for people to come together, shape plans and exchange and meet each other for some connections and walk away with a riot poster."
Crossbreed's situation is slightly different. As it stands, Sunday's party is going ahead as normal. For founder and resident DJ Alex Warren, AKA Kiwi, the council's email also came as a surprise, particularly because Crossbreed has been running weekly at Colour Factory without incident or interference since February 13th. The only previous interaction was a brief conversation before the residency launched.
"We had a good chat about what we're doing," they told RA. "And it seemed constructive. We told them about our safety protocols and as far as we were concerned, that was the end of the matter. Until this week."
Tower Hamlets Council shared this comment with RA regarding Crossbreed. "We have not shut down this event, but, as with any licenced premises, we do expect the venue owner to operate within their licence."
Warren believes Crossbreed is operating within its licence. "We're being targeted by the council and we don't really know why [..] It's clear to us that our parties operate lawfully, and that we go above and beyond to protect the licensing objectives of the borough. Until we're told otherwise, our party on Sunday will go ahead. We're one of the only weekly safer queer spaces in Tower Hamlets, with an impeccable welfare and safety record. If we were shut down, it would be a significant loss for the queer community."
Looking beyond this weekend, Karl Verboten wants to restart a dialogue between the sex-positive party community and the local authorities. He plans to host a public meeting called "The Sex Club Summit" with the aim of bringing together councillors, the police, community members and operators.
"Just have a grown-up conversation, you know?" he told RA. "And talk about the elephant in the room."
He added: "As long as we don't destigmatize this, I think there will always be fear about being associated with [being] a pervert. But it's sad because we're such a huge community. The people that come to our events bring smiles to your kids at school. They take care of you in a hospital. They're your work colleagues. There's nothing wrong with them. Absolutely not. Good and decent people, and they also deserve a space where they don't have to fear any judgment or even looks or aggression towards them. And this is the space we provide. This is very, very crucial."
RA has approached Colour Factory for comment.
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