MP JEREMY CORBYN HITS OUT AT 3AM NOISY DRUNKARDS
‘I don’t like being woken up by people fighting outside my house’
Published: 11 June, 2010
by PETER GRUNER
ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the 24-hour drinking culture which he says has created “noise and disorder” outside his home.
Mr Corbyn spoke of his “disappointment” following a decision by an Islington licensing committee on Tuesday to extend the opening hours of another nightclub, Arda2 in Seven Sisters Road, until 3am Monday to Thursday and until 4am on Friday and Saturday.
He said that in a densely populated community like Islington “there has to be far more respect shown for other people at night”.
Mr Corbyn, who lives in Holloway, called for the licensing laws passed under the previous Labour Government to be tightened up so that clubs and pubs are no longer automatically allowed extended hours.
“I live off Seven Sisters Road, I’m happy living there, it’s a very vibrant community,” he said. “What I find disturbing are the numbers of very late-night licences which were granted in the past.
“I hope we’re going to put a stop to that. I think there should be a reasonable time for finishing mid-week and at weekends because I don’t particularly like being woken up at 2 or 3 in the morning listening to people fighting outside.”
The all-Labour licensing committee, chaired by Councillor Joan Coupland at the Town Hall, heard that there had been complaints about Arda2 going back a number of years, particularly from nearby residential Berriman Road.
Resident Sheridan Read, a consultant at the Whittington hospital, described being kept awake by the dull thud of music after the club’s door was left open recently.
“It was very difficult getting young children to sleep with all the noise outside,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, Labour ward councillor Phil Kelly appealed to the committee to reject the club’s application for extended hours.
“We’re not against people enjoying themselves but there are already many disturbances late at night,” he said. “An extension of hours will make sleep impossible for many residents.”
Speaking for the club, Alban Saiti said new management had taken over in March and everything was being done to reduce the noise to residents.
“Unfortunately the door was left open one night recently when it was very hot,” he said. “This was a mistake. We have air conditioning now so that there is no need to open doors or windows. We don’t want to cause trouble for our neighbours and we tell people to be quiet when they leave. Ours, of course, is not the only venue in the area which stays open late.”
The committee, which heard that there had been no complaints against the club reported to the police or Islington Council’s Noise team, granted the application for extended hours.
A major campaign against the relentless rise in the number of shops and clubs selling cheap alcohol is being planned by Islington Council in the autumn.
Councillors from all parties are united in a plan to oppose the government’s 24-hour 2005 drinking legislation, which has allowed a tide of booze-selling stores and clubs to proliferate.
New proposals include following neighbouring Camden’s example by banning drinking in the street. Officers will also look at Westminster Council’s “saturation” zone policy, where new licensed outlets are refused in problem areas.
Labour councillor Barry Edwards said that the only way to fight the act, which invariably supports the liquor trade, is to provide evidence of the damage.
He added: “We will produce figures from the hospitals and police of alcohol-related crimes in the borough.”