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Hackney's Moth Club saved after planning bid refused

Josef SteenLocal Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS)
Google An exterior photo of the Moth Club.Google
A big party is on the cards - "watch this space," said Moth Club's founders.

A live music and comedy venue in east London is celebrating its second victory of the year after a planning application for nearby flats was rejected, securing its future.

On Thursday, Hackney Council refused a developer's proposal to build seven flats and a commerical unit adjacent to the Moth Club in Hackney, after blocking an initial planning bid from the same developer in March.

Moth Club's founder Keith Miller thanked their "amazing" supporters, the council and the planning department for its "due diligence".

Miller and Moth's general manager Edie Kench-Andrews said the club would honour an earlier promise to throw "the greatest party Moth has ever witnessed".

Getty Images Miles Kane holds a guitar and sings into a microphone during a performance at the Moth ClubGetty Images
Miles Kane performs live on stage at the club

A petition in support of Moth Club accrued more than 36,000 signatures, in addition to campaigns from Hackney Nights, Save Our Scene, the NTIA, and the Music Venue Trust.

Town hall planners said the planning application, from Ganatra, had "failed to demonstrate that the proposed development would not give rise to undue noise and disturbance to future occupiers".

They said the bid also made no provision for affordable housing, leading town hall planners to conclude the development would "fail to adequately contribute towards the provision of mixed and balanced communities and housing needs in the local area".

Following the council's decision, the club's organisers thanked the mayor of Hackney, Zoë Garbett, and her cabinet colleagues for "backing grassroots music in Hackney".

The venue, which opened in 1972 as a servicemen's club, has hosted a range of big name artists including Lady Gaga, Dave Grohl and Rick Astley since 2015.

The campaign to safeguard its future was also backed by various music artists including Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and the band Amyl and the Sniffers.

Miller also said Green Day, Lewis Capaldi and Tame Impala were supporters.

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