Fabric to reopen after management reshuffle

Fabric, the world-famous London nightclub forced to close in September, is to reopen after agreeing to make changes to its management structure and introduce stricter searches, covert surveillance and lifetime bans for anyone found to be in possession of drugs.

In a joint statement, released this afternoon, the London Borough of Islington and club owner Fabric Life Ltd outlined the conditions for reinstatement of Fabric’s licence, with the club agreeing to take the blame for supposed lax drug enforcement and accepting Islington was “fully entitled to revoke its licence”. Part of it reads:

“Fabric has offered many new additional conditions to be added to its licence, all of which are designed to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to drug possession, consumption and sale within the club. […]

“Fabric accepts that its procedures in relation to searching were insufficient, as were its procedures to prevent the consumption and dealing of drugs within the club itself. Fabric accepts that the police acted reasonably in making the application for a review and that the authority’s sub-committee was fully entitled to revoke its licence. Fabric repudiates the online abuse aimed at committee members and council staff and will permanently exclude anyone who has been found to be involved.

“Fabric is committed to doing all it reasonably can to ensure that no more of its clubbers come to drug-related harm. It also recognises that there need to be, and will be, changes to its management structure and accountability.

“The authority is now satisfied that Fabric’s directors and senior management understand … that zero tolerance to drugs means precisely that”

“The authority welcomes Fabric’s acceptance of all these matters. It is now satisfied that Fabric’s directors and senior management understand precisely what has to be done to ensure that Fabric is a safe environment for young clubbers, and that zero tolerance to drugs means precisely that. The measures to be implemented include:

• The use of a new ID scanning system on entry to the club
• Enhanced searching procedures and controls
• Covert surveillance within the club
• Lifetime bans for anyone found in possession of drugs, whether on entry or within the club
• Lifetime bans for anyone trying to buy drugs in the club
• Enhanced monitoring and external auditing for compliance against procedures
• Physical changes to the club, including improved lighting and additional CCTV provision
• A new security company
• Persons under 19 years of age shall not be permitted to be on the premises as a customer or guest from 2000 hours on a Friday until 0800 hours on the following Monday or on any day during the hours that the operators promote a core club night

The club could count among its supporters London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, and raised more than £320,000 towards its legal fight with Islington, including from Coda and venue operator Columbo Group.

“We are hugely thankful to be able to confirm the news that we have won our licence back,” says Fabric in a statement. “We owe everything to our supporters. We really would not be here today without your unparallelled support and generosity.

“So many different people stepped up to put their voices to our cause: artists from all corners of the music community, fellow promoters who have put on huge events from us and clubbers from around the world who all united behind us. We’ve even seen people sporting their #savefabric T-shirts on the other side of this planet showing just how big this thing is.

“So, thank you to all of you. Without the strength of your backing this would not have happened. You saved Fabric.”

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