Published
Wed, May 20, 2015, 15:15
- The Glasgow venue says it has been left "stunned" by the city's decision, and is considering appealing.
The owners of Glasgow venue The Arches have released a statement in response to having their 3 AM licence revoked by city authorities.
The club's board of directors says the Glasgow Licensing Board's decision "will have a devastating effect on the future of the venue." The statement says they're now "taking legal advice on appealing the decision."
The Arches' executive director Mark Anderson says: "We are still stunned by Friday’s decision and at a loss to understand just what more we could have done to provide a safer clubbing environment at The Arches. Over the period under review, we welcomed over 250,000 clubbers through our doors. Of that number, just 0.14% were reported for misuse of drugs incidents. What is more worrying is that despite the increased safety measures we adopted on the recommendation of Police Scotland, which had already alienated many of our valued club customers, our successful operation of those policies has resulted in the statistics being used against us."
The venue's artistic director Lucy Mason adds: "We have been overwhelmed by the humbling and heartening support for The Arches and would like to thank everyone for being so passionate and articulate on our behalf. It is impossible to imagine the cultural landscape with The Arches wiped of the map, a situation which is entirely possible given the interdependency of the Arts and Club activity within our organisation."
An online petition opposing the Glasgow Licensing Board's decision has more than 34,000 signatures. The venue's programme for this week will go ahead as planned, though one upcoming event—a Last Night On Earth party with Sasha on May 23rd—has been moved to SWG3.