Owners of the MOTH Club in London have reached out to local residents, asking them to support opposition to a development that could “pose a serious threat” to the venue.
Based in Hackney, the venue has been in existence since the early ‘70s, and has played host to countless live gigs, as well as comedy shows, film events and club nights.
Now, owners of the space have taken to social media, calling on local residents and fans to help secure the future of the venue by speaking out in opposition to an upcoming development.
According to the post, a new planning application has been put forward, which would mean that multiple flats would be built directly opposite the venue. This would put the live music space in jeopardy as it could impact the regulations around the noise output.
“To any Hackney based MOTH Club lovers out there, we’re calling for your support to object to a recent planning application for new flats being built opposite the venue on Morning Lane,” the post began.
“As well as hosting live shows, comedy, film and club nights MOTH has been in existence since 1972 as an ex-serviceperson club and is still used by MOTH members regularly with monthly meetings held in their private meeting room in the upper parts of the premises. Any new builds will pose a serious threat to the future of our venue and the gold ceiling.”
In the update, those who want to help protect the building are encouraged to reach out to the borough’s planning department via email this week, and use the reference number 2024/1260.
Upon the venue’s call for support, a spokesperson for the Music Venue Trust shared a statement with NME about the situation, and explained how they are looking to help protect the Hackney live music space.
“MOTH Club came straight into Music Venue Trust’s Emergency Response Service upon receiving notice of the planning application,” they said. “We’ve already mobilised our Planning and Acoustic gurus who have gone over the application details with a fine tooth comb; these are independent industry experts who generously give their time for free to Music Venue Alliance member venues in crisis. Using their technical expertise we will place an objection and we will call for the application proposal to be rejected at the first opportunity.”
The statement continued: “The developers have placed an application which neglects to even consider the noise impact of the MOTH Club, with a noise report which doesn’t mention or survey the GMV. So we will be opposing its suitability in the strongest possible terms, it’s plainly against the Agent of Change planning principle and would put the Moth Club at risk of future noise complaints and threat of closure.
“We’re really pleased to see the enormity of the public reaction, and how many people agree with us that the Moth Club must be protected.”
MOTH Club is just one of the countless grassroots music spaces across the UK that have come under threat in recent years, and the concerns the owners lay out reflect those previously faced by Manchester’s Night & Day venue.
The legendary music spot in Manchester – which was first saved after a hard-fought battle against a noise complaint back in 2014 – took to social media in 2021 to rally support yet again. This came after it received a notice from the council, which reportedly claimed that it was “a noise nuisance” to a resident that had moved into a nearby property during the lockdown.
The venue said that they were pleading with Manchester City Council Licensing to “remove our Noise Abatement Notice and for the Council to address the real issue here which is that housing with ill-considered planning and construction has been approved and built next to a pre-existing live music business”.
Eventually, over 94,000 people signed a petition to remove the Noise Abatement Notice (NAN) – including Johnny Marr, New Order, Courteeners, Frank Turner, Mogwai and more – and it was ruled earlier this year that the venue can continue to operate.
Back in 2021, the Music Venue Trust told NME that this had become somewhat of a trend, and that there had been more than 40 noise complaints against UK grassroots music venues since reopening in July of that year.
One other venue that faced closure due to a resident’s noise complaint was the beloved Fuel Rock Club in Cardiff.
The three aforementioned live music spaces are just a few of the countless grassroots venues that have come under threat, with the MVT warning that gig spaces in the UK are “going over a cliff” without urgent government action.
Towards the end of last year, there was a stark warning that the UK was set to lose 10 per cent of its grassroots music venues, and MVT ended the year by telling NME how 2023 was the “worst year for venue closures” while “no one in the music industry seems to care”.
The problem continues to grow in 2024, and in January a new report was published showing the “disaster” that struck the UK’s grassroots music venues in 2023. Among the key findings was that 125 UK venues abandoned live music and that over half of them had shut entirely – including the legendary Moles in Bath.
The struggles faced by both musicians and venue owners were further highlighted by Featured Artists Coalition’s CEO David Martin in February, when he spoke about how the rapid decline of grassroots venues is taking a toll on the UK talent.