Leon co-founder Henry Dimbleby and TV chef Gizzi Erskine have backed a legal challenge to a curfew on all new bars and clubs in Hackney.
The borough council voted in July for licensing rules forcing new venues to close at 11pm on weeknights and 12am at weekends and to ban outside drinking there after 10pm. It said nightspots should be better managed and the impact on neighbours reduced.
The legal challenge was filed this week by campaign group We Love Hackney, which says the council’s pre-decision consultation showed that 75 per cent of residents were opposed to each of the measures.
WLH is represented by solicitors Leigh Day and Philip Kolvin QC, who helped secure the reopening of Fabric nightclub after Islington council forced its closure in 2016. They hope to be granted a judicial review hearing.
Dimbleby, of food chain Leon, said today that the curfew could “crush the most vibrant area of London”. He added that his hit Shoreditch venue Dinerama “wouldn’t exist under these new rules … these changes are an attempt to turn Hackney into Fulham or Chelsea.”
Erskine, who helped found a food hall and creative market in Mare Street , said: “It’s totally wrong to penalise the small, independent businesses who have made Hackney the place it is.”
We Love Hackney, a 4,000-strong group which successfully fought similar plans in 2015, is crowdfunding an initial £20,000 of the £53,000 which lawyers have said an appeal will cost.
WLH spokesman Matt Sanders said: “If successful, the judicial review would have implications beyond Hackney as councils would no longer be able to ignore the voice of young people, who disproportionately use and work in the night-time economy, when drawing up licensing policies. I think we stand a good chance.” He added: “If everyone gave £10 we would have the money we need to defend the Hackney we all love.”
The council confirmed it had been notified about the legal action. A spokesman declined to comment further.
