London club Oval Space’s licence revoked following alleged shooting

East London club Oval Space has had its licence revoked by Tower Hamlets council, following an alleged shooting on the premises in August.

The licence was revoked at a sub-committee meeting on Tuesday (27th), with the reasons behind the decision set to be published at a later date.

An official document previously shared by Tower Hamlets council, which is accessible in full online, alleged that in the early hours of 30th August, “a serious incident” occurred when a firearm was discharged within the venue. 

A police officer confirmed in the report that a firearm was discharged within Oval Space, which “has been seen on CCTV”. This police officer also stated that “five days of the investigation have been wasted as the General Manager [of Oval Space] was not contactable and has given the account that her phone was lost/stolen.”

Police were called to the nearby Temple Street at 4:20 AM after a member of the public discovered a man with injuries to both his legs on the street. According to the report, the man was seen on CCTV running from Oval Space, being chased by another man. In an interview with the police, the man allegedly said that bullets were fired in the venue, which is why he ran. 

The report notes that, during a CCTV review, two members of security who were working on the night of the incident stated that they “did not see any altercation occur outside the club” at the time.  Another security guard claimed there was “bang on the dancefloor” at 4:15 AM, which prompted them to turn the lights of the venue on and search the dancefloor. The sound was assumed to be “the sound of a balloon bursting”. Many club-goers subsequently left the club, according to the report. 

According to the document, the grounds for the review were as follows: “That in the opinion of a senior police officer of the Metropolitan Police the above premises are associated with serious crime and disorder or both and concerns in relation to public safety and prevention of public nuisance. Lack of management of the premises and lack of adequate searching leading to serious incident to take place.”

As Mixmag reports, Dean James, the owner of the London venue, told the Tower Hamlets licensing committee: “I’m ashamed of what’s happened at our venue. I apologise to the police and I apologise to the committee.”

“It was a catastrophic failure of the security company, we know that. There are some mitigating circumstances – it’s the most difficult operating environment that I’ve ever known in the business in 22 years.”2

Oval Space will have the option of appealing the decision. “The appeal must be made to the Magistrates Court. A notice of appeal must be given to the justices’ chief executive for the Magistrates Court within a period of 21 days beginning with the day on which the appellant was notified by the Licensing Authority,” states Tower Hamlets council on their site.