The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club has been granted permission to open till midnight – despite one neighbour’s concerns about an increase of bikers “roaring around Hoxton Square and revving their engines” since it opened.
A licensing officer from Hackney Council had also recommended the application should be refused because of the Shoreditch Special Police Area (SPA), unless the applicant could demonstrate “exceptional reasons”.
Shoreditch was designated a SPA because it was identified as suffering from “negative cumulative impact” due to the high concentration of licensed premises in the area.
The members’ club in Old Street opened in November 2015 to cater to the racer café scene.
It is open to everyone but there is a members’ restriction on who is allowed into the club late at night.
Licensing conditions meant had sales of alcohol should cease at 11pm – but now the licensing committee has approved an application to extend the time until midnight.
A Hoxton Square resident who wrote to object to the application said: “As nearby residents we have noticed a marked increase since its opening in the number of bikers roaring around Hoxton Square, revving their engines and contributing to the high volume of noise in the area.
“I fear the changes proposed here would lead to an increase of such antisocial behaviour and even worse, at later times of the night.”
Owner Anthony Dutch van Someren told the Gazette he found the resident’s objection “weird”, but said that he was all for protecting the SPA.
“Our customers aren’t interested In spending any time in Hoxton Square,” he said. “It’s not easy to get to, because it’s a one way system from a one way system.
“No one would be crazy enough to park there. It’s got four bike bays and loads of bikes get stolen from them, so you wouldn’t park anything valuable there. They would park on our driveway which has space for 100 bikes.
“In the last 18 months we have only had three occasions to call the police. All three were thefts in the daytime and two resulted in arrests. The average venue gets 100 callouts a year.”
He explained how he and his wife set up the club to cater for the “massive explosion” in the café racer scene over the past 12 years.
“You’ll see it in film making and advertising,” he said. “For a long time it was seen as down and dirty, and we wanted to create a space for people who also like nice coffee.”
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