‘Major incident’ prompts Dreamland licence review
Dreamland Margate faces a licensing review after a 17-year-old girl died and 21 teenagers were hospitalised from suspected drug overdoses at a drum & bass event held last month.
Kent Police declared a major incident at Worried About Henry event, which took place at the open air concert venue on 29 June. Advertised as an over-16s event, it was attended by around 7,000 people.
Five interim measures have now been imposed on Dreamland, which has already cancelled an event “of a similar nature and customer base” planned for 27 July, following recommendations by the police to Thanet District Council.
They include the “formal cancellation of all drum and bass events and those deemed to be a higher risk association with class A and B drug use by those under 18 years of age”, as well as an increased ratio of security staff to patrons for what the police deem “‘higher risk’ events such as trance/garage/grime”.
Further measures include zero tolerance signage throughout the venue regarding drug use and possession, and for all under-18s must be accompanied by an adult aged 25 or over.
“Kent Police respectfully request that interim measures are officially put in place to uphold the licensing objectives,” said the police. “At this stage we are not seeking a full revocation of the licence as Kent Police are confident in working with Dreamland prior to any review hearing.”
A spokesperson for Dreamland tells IQ: We are committed to engaging with the licensing authority and Kent Police throughout the review process.”
“Kent Police believe that in general the premises has been well run and well
suited to what we would deem to be lower risk events”
According to documents submitted to the council, police decided against shutting down Worried About Henry in the wake of the tragedy as it “would likely have caused a large-scale public order incident”.
“This was a challenging decision but allowed mitigating factors to implemented to minimise the risk towards already vulnerable children at the event,” they said.
Police noted that Dreamland, in general, “has been well run and well suited to what we would deem to be lower risk events”.
“The management of events specifically targeted at over 16s and particular music genre’s are historically faced with challenges,” they added. “The venue has had issues with similar previous events in 23/24, where there were some wider issues raised with crime and disorder in the local area which in turn put pressure on strategic partners and in turn damaged public confidence and have undermined all licensing objectives.”
A spokesperson for Kent Police tells IQ: “Our application is currently before the relevant committee at Thanet District Council. We have no further statement on it at present.”
LN-Gaiety Holdings took a majority stake in Sands Heritage, owner of Dreamland Margate, last year. Upcoming concerts at the venue include Suede & Manic Street Preachers, Idles, Jess Glynne, Status Quo, Paloma Faith and Busted.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.