‘Pre-loaded’ drink culture not our fault, nightspot tells judge

Club owner says licence until 6am at weekends will regulate behaviour

Canterbury’s biggest nightclub claims it cannot be blamed for “every puddle of urine, every pool of vomit, every bottle and every shout in the night”.

Solicitors for Club Chemistry defended the nightspot as their bid to extend its opening hours to 6am shone a spotlight on the city’s late-night drinking culture.

Younger revellers tend to “preload” alcohol at home until around 11pm before heading out for a night on the town, a court heard.

By serving punters until 6am on Friday and Saturdays, drinkers will no longer feel their evening is cut short, the club argues.

Owner Louise Jones is appealing against the council’s refusal to extend her 4am licence at weekends.

An earlier application had failed after neighbouring residents complained of broken sleep, vandalism and littering linked to drunken clubbers.

James Rankin, speaking for Club Chemistry, told a district judge: “I suggest that it’s possible to point the finger at who we think is the culprit.

“We are very good as a nation in the uniting for a cause. We are quick to rally behind a flag.

“Every puddle of urine, every pool of vomit, every bottle, every shout in the night, is automatically linked to Club Chemistry.

“The reality is very different. We are not to be blamed for every single dog’s mess that blights Canterbury.”

Speaking at Canterbury Magistrates’ Court, Mr Rankin argued that by extending its hours the club could regulate and stagger the numbers as they left. Students formed the majority of Club Chemistry’s 1,300-capacity clientele, he told the court.

“It’s not about us making profit, it’s about us minimising the impact upon the surrounding area,” he said.

“Nowadays students go out at 11 in the evening.

“They pre- load. That can involve students drinking large amounts of alcohol.

“It means that people come to Club Chemistry much later than they used to. We are seeing this as a growing trend.”

He argued that licence restrictions at rival nightspots meant drunken revellers were all spilling onto the streets at once.

“The Loft, Cuban, Steinbeck

‘It’s not about profit, it’s about minimising the impact upon the surrounding area’

& Shaw – all are premises that have hours resulting in people exiting all at once. That causes tension. There’s cause for friction,” he said.

“If we have a cut off time at 3am it means you are dispersing a large number of people at 3am. By 3am they haven’t had their evening.

“There are groups of people who have had their evening cur- tailed. By extending the hours we regulate it.” Mr Rankin argued that the city council had failed to give valid reasons for its refusal, which had given rise to appeal.

“With greatest respect – a firstyear gap student on work experience might have done better,” he told the court.

Canterbury City Council argues that extending Club Chemistry’s licensing hours would cause “a real risk of prolonged disturbance” to local residents.

It accepts that not every disturbance suffered by residents was necessarily linked to Club Chemistry.

But it argues residents are unlikely to accept that an extension to the club’s hours would improve their situation, as the club suggested. The club calls time at 2.30am on Mondays to Thursdays, 4am on Fridays and Saturdays and 12.30am on Sundays.

Canterbury City Council had previously rejected an application from the club for 3am closure Sundays to Wednesdays, 4am Thursdays and 6am Fridays and Saturdays.

District judge Justin Barron will deliver his vedict at a later date.

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Club Chemistry owner Louise Jones is appealing against the refusal of a licence to open until 4am at weekends