London Fields venue owned by Radiohead guitarist gets go-ahead for late-night events

A former 1950s laundry which is owned by the guitarist of indie band Radiohead was given the go-ahead to hold late-night events at a town hall meeting last Wednesday.

It is the latest set of plans to develop the striking building on Warburton Road in London Fields which was bought by musician Ed O’Brien and Indian TV moghul Raj Nayak.

Planning permission to refurbish The Laundry into a multi-purpose building including work studios, eight flats, a cafe/bar/restaurant and a basement events space was approved last November.

A month later, the owners applied for a late-night alcohol and music licence for the cafe/bar and events space until midnight from Sundays to Thursdays and until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.

However, when the application came before a licensing sub-committee in March, the venue was only granted a licence to open the cafe/bar until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and until 11.30am from Sunday to Thursday with a condition that a later licence would be given after the owners told them how they would mitigate any noise and disturbance to neighbours.

Last Wednesday, a planning committee approved plans for the event space to open from 8am to 4am on Fridays and Saturdays and from 8am to midnight on Sundays. They also approved plans for the cafe/bar to open between the hours of 8am and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays and from 8am to midnight on Sundays.

Following refurbishment, the building now features 26 studios, which have been mainly privately let to people from the creative industries such as the fashion, music and photography world.

Tentative plans for events space include live music, club nights and film screenings.

Nobody from The Laundry was available to comment.