Nightclub Fabric will not have its licence revoked, after Islington Council and Met Police told owners they must put sniffer dogs on the doors to prevent people taking drugs.
The club will also have to carry out ID checks on clubbers, improve CCTV, and increase drug searches. Owners Cameron Leslie and Keith Reilly say they will fight the new conditions, with Leslie telling the Standard: "We’ll be appealing. We need to see their written reasons but we fundamentally disagree on a number of key points."
Reilly added: "In 15 years we have had 6 million people come through the doors and sadly there have been four deaths. We do everything we can to stop people taking drugs in the club. What’s happened recently is this country is awash with drugs. There’s been a large batch of MDMA that’s got more powerful and has caught the kids out."
The Standard reports that there will have to be seven dogs at the venue every night — at a cost of £300 each, including the handler.
On Fabric's website now, a statement reads: "none of the measures listed in the outcome of the review will come in to affect until after we have seen the Council’s written report and we have decided how we intend to appeal certain points."
A review of the venue's licence was triggered by police following concern over drug-related incidents — four clubbers have died in the last three years after taking illegal substances at the venue. A petition to save the venue attracted 35,000 signatures in a matter of hours.
