‘Professionals’ to some, ‘a shambles’ to others: can the UK’s biggest nightclub stay open?
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Drumsheds can host as many as 15,000 people in a former Ikea and is lauded by many – but following a licensing review, there are concerns it’s too big to function. In December it looked like Drumsheds, the UK’s largest nightclub housed in a former Ikea in north London, could be in serious trouble less than 18 months after it opened, after two drug-related deaths and a knife attack connected to the venue. Following a licensing review last week, it can stay open – but serious questions remain around the future of the 15,000-capacity superclub, and what its struggles say about night-time culture more broadly.
![[Drumsheds from the air – the venue building used to be an Ikea superstore.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6dba252bccbdab23d73d2722d214a5e5e67b8d58/0_0_4745_3553/master/4745.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Enfield council’s review was triggered by the Metropolitan police, who alleged “serious failings” on the part of Drumsheds’ owners, Broadwick Live. These include failures to report two drug-related hospitalisations (one of them fatal) in October and December, another drug-related death in December, a knife being brought into the club in November, and the “uncooperative” attitude of security staff when an attender was subsequently slashed and hospitalised. Both the Metropolitan police and Enfield council declined to comment in detail on Drumsheds’ licence review, or the modified terms under which it’s been allowed to remain open.
![[Security checking thousands of clubbers at the door.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/84f3d712f424598af0ea1d0df27657aef9f49ef2/0_0_7373_4918/master/7373.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Speaking exclusively to the Guardian shortly after the licence hearing, Broadwick Live’s director of strategy Simeon Aldred is clear that he doesn’t blame the police for raising the alarm. “Everyone running a venue in the UK knows that if anything serious happens, you should expect a review,” he says. “I’m not surprised, I’m not angry, I’ve got nothing negative at all to say about Enfield police.”.
