Residents slam plans for events in ex-warehouse near homes

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter 

Residents have slammed plans by the firm behind clubs including Printworks and Drumsheds to put on events in a former newspaper warehouse near their homes. 

Spaces & Stories Limited, the venue arm of Broadwick Group, has asked Lewisham council for permission to serve booze from 8am to 10.30pm six days a week during events at Deptford Storehouse.

Up to 500 people could attend events at the building in Grove Street under the proposals. 

At a council licensing meeting on Wednesday, Gizella Suki, who has lived in the area for 17 years, said: “This area is completely unsuitable for crowds of up to 500 people to come and go. I believe this number of people will increase the crime rate in the area and residents will potentially become collateral damage.”

Sophie Greaves, who has been a resident of the neighbourhood since 2015, said she “fully objects” to the plans, saying the noise would be “incredibly stressful and upsetting” for residents.

Spaces & Stories Limited originally asked permission from the council to host music events at the venue for thousands of people. 

But the firm later let go of the live music plans and downsized the maximum capacity to 500 people, in order to get the council’s licensing team to drop their objection. 

But, the changes weren’t enough to persuade the Met Police to drop its opposition to the venue.

Michael Feeney, representing police, said: “The premises are already in a high crime area, attracting this number of people into the area will only make this worse. If you have hundreds of people going to these premises late at night then there’s the potential for them to become victims of crime as well.”

Paddy Whur, representing Spaces & Stories Limited, said the firm was the ‘industry leader’ in ‘converting big sheds into environments that are culturally important, creative and safe’.

He said the firm had a noise management plan for the venue which would prevent disturbance to residents and emphasised that alcohol wasn’t the ‘prime focus’.

The council’s licensing committee will release its decision on the application in the coming days.

Pictured top: Deptford Storehouse is surrounded by homes (Picture: Google Street View)