The Met Police is looking to revoke the South London venue’s licence following a fatal crowd crush in December 2022
Brixton Academy has had its licence suspended since Rebecca Ikumelo and Gaby Hutchinson died following a crush at an Asake gig at the venue on 15th December 2022, and now the police are asking Lambeth Council to make the closure permanent. As well as the two fatalities, a further ten people were injured during the crush, with investigations following the incident revealing insufficient staffing levels, a lack of medical cover and a culture of staff taking bribes to allow non-ticketholders entry to events.
Academy Music Group, the organisation that runs the venue, states it has been co-operating with both the Met Police and the council and has created proposals to “enable the venue to reopen safely”. The date for the Lambeth Council sub-committee hearing regarding the licence has now been set for 11th & 12th September, where people from both sides of the argument will be speaking alongside testimonies from the public. The Night Time Industries Association has been campaigning to keep Brixton Academy open, and after it was closed, a petition was set up to save the historic venue (with new security measures in place), which has been hosting gigs since the 1980s and has become one of the most iconic places to see live music in London.
At the time of writing it’s received over 116,000 signatures and has received support from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Garbage, Blur’s Graham Coxon and Primal Scream’s Simone Butler. If you wanna help save the venue from closure, add your name to the list here.
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