Operator promises improved safety measures if venue is permitted to reopen and rejects concerns a new risk assessment process would become a “proxy for racial discrimination”.
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The operator of Brixton Academy has spent £1.2m on maintenance and improvements since the venue closed following a fatal crush last December.
Lambeth Council’s Licencing Sub-Committee held a two-day hearing this week (11 and 12 September) at which it considered whether the venue should be allowed to reopen under an amended licence.
Ongoing measures to improve safety at the venue include the installation of 16 CCTV cameras and stronger doors, a staggered queueing system and body cameras for staff. Meanwhile, a new crowd management company, Showsec, has been brought in to manage the venue’s security.
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Academy Music Group’s (AMG) legal representative at the hearing, Philip Kolvin QC, told the sub-committee the operators were open to ideas “to make the venue even safer [through] partnership and solution finding”.
“I’d ask you to view what we’ve produced as a framework of control, enabling you to have confidence in my client,” he said.
“My client really means this. This is done with intent. It means to operate it properly as a venue that it, and you, can be proud of and have confidence in.
“My client is a very good operator, which has applied its mind and the minds of some very good people with the objective of running this venue as safely as anywhere else in the country.”
The venue is proposing to complete more detailed risk assessments for future shows, based on the type of music and demographics of attendees, which would be shared with the council and Metropolitan Police beforehand.
The police will be given authority to cancel any show it has concerns about as part of Brixton Academy’s proposed new licence.
During Monday’s meeting, Sub-Committee Chair, Councillor Fred Cowell, raised concerns the new system could become a “proxy for racial discrimination”.
Kolvin QC denied the claim, responding that “Black music is the cultural beating heart of the country”.
He added AMG wanted event visitors to have a “good time but go home alive”.
Former risk assessments
During the first day of the hearing, Kolvin QC said AMG had adopted the highest safety measures on the night of the crush, despite the performance of Nigerian Afrobeats-performer Asake originally being assessed as a lower level risk.
Brixton Academy only gave the highest risk rating to eight events last year, including Asake’s three dates at the venue.
“It was decided that with a demographic predominantly female, it should be assessed as level 4 but nevertheless with measures from level 5 and the high-risk events operational policy was adopted,” Kolvin QC said.
On the night of the crush, safety measures in place included using the highest number of security staff ever for a show at Brixton Academy, totalling 165 rather than 120. Five controlled dogs were also used.
Kolvin QC said there was no evidence to suggest anyone had been granted entry without a valid ticket, rebuking claims in the aftermath of the event that security guards took bribes to let people in without tickets.
The Security Industry Authority has since opened an inquiry into these corruption allegations.
‘Not on the police’s radar’
Kolvin QC defended Brixton Academy as historically “not being one of those venues that’s on the police’s radar”.
He disclosed that between 2018 and 2022, there were three occasions when the police had voiced concern about a performance being staged. In each instance, Brixton Academy did not run the event.
In 2022, the venue held 174 shows including 108 sold-out performances. The police were called for assistance just once: “Every venue has to call the police from time-to-time,” Kolvin QC said.
The Metropolitan Police are leading calls for AMG to have its licence revoked after announcing earlier this year it had ‘lost faith’ in the operators.
Earlier this year, it opened a criminal investigation involving a range of potential offences including corporate manslaughter and criminal negligence manslaughter, and it gave evidence during the hearing through a legal representative.
Parts of the two-day hearing were held in private, before the council decide whether to allow the Academy to reopen.
According to local press, a decision is expected within five working days of the hearing.
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