Published
Thu, Mar 8, 2018, 16:00
- The count rose from 70 to 133 in a year according to statistics.
The number of illegal raves in London nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to police figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph.
There were 133 illegal raves in 2017 compared to 70 in 2016, say the stats. This spike coincided with a greater police effort on the ground—DCI John Oldham, head of crime at the Metropolitan Police's public order command, told The Sunday Telegraph that in the past three years the authorities had "woken up to the problem and put out a much higher intelligence requirement to identify these things."
The article goes on to give two main reasons for the increase: the rising price of drinks and a growing lack of clubs and venues. According to the Association Of Licensed Multiple Retailers, more than half of all London clubs shut between 2005 and 2015. That said, things have since improved in the capital—Printworks and Five Miles were among several new spots that opened in 2017, while fabric, which lost its license in September 2016, reopened the following January.
"As far as I can see there's not really a shortage of party spaces in London," World Unknown cofounder Andy Blake told Resident Advisor. "And they're of a fairly wide variety of types too, with new ones opening all the time. You can also get a temporary licence for almost anywhere these days."
He continued: "There are loads of reasons [why illegal raves have increased]: people being skint, kids wanting to try doing DIY stuff, a general mistrust of things that seem too organised, older party organisers who never really stopped doing it this way, people who love getting one over on the authorities [and] really interesting buildings becoming temporarily available that could never be used by the book. Whatever the reasons, it's vital, healthy and most importantly a lot of fun that this is happening."