Hackney’s Moth Club gets reprieve as council blocks planning bid – but venue ‘not out of the woods’
Hackney’s Moth Club. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners
Hackney’s MOTH Club is hailing a “huge win” after a planning application for nearby flats was rejected by the council.
The independent music and comedy venue and ex-serviceman’s club has won wide support in its campaign to block the development of six private apartments on Morning Lane “directly overlooking” the venue.
The operators feared this would lead to noise complaints and pose a “serious threat” to the club’s future.
As a petition backing the venue surpassed 30,000 signatures in December, campaigners urged the council to safeguard the club.
The local authority had postponed the decision over the proposal, originally due in March 2025.
On Wednesday (25 March) the council rejected the scheme.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the club’s events programmer Keith Miller said it was the result of a “huge amount of hard work” from the venue and supporting charities and groups including the Music Venues Trust [MVT], the Night Time Industries Association [NTIA] and Save our Scene.
Planning officers noted the developer, Stephen Davy, failed to prove the building would not cause “unreasonable restrictions” on the venue.
They also refused it over a lack of affordability housing, accessibility and the impact its “overbearing” presence would have on the local conservation area.
A CGI mockup of plans for residential building on Morning Lane. Image: Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects
But Mr Miller warned the club was “not out of the woods yet” as it continues to fight a second planning application “slighter further away” but adjoining the first, which MOTH Club said would have “devastating consequences”.
“If we keep pushing and that additional planning is refused, I’m envisaging the greatest party MOTH has ever witnessed,” Mr Miller said.
Established as an old servicemen’s club in 1972, MOTH Club was revamped into a music and comedy venue in 2015. It has since seen a host of high-profile acts grace its small, glittering stage – including Lady Gaga, Everything But the Girl, Dave Grohl, Caroline Polacheck, IDLES, Kojey Radical, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Dry Cleaning.
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Last year, the council received an avalanche of correspondence from the club’s supporters amid a letter-writing campaign spearheaded by the advocacy group Save Our Scene.
Mayor of Hackney, Caroline Woodley, said the council could not comment on a live application but highlighted that the borough’s planning policies contained an ‘agent of change’ principle that placed responsibility on any new developments to mitigate noise – rather than forcing existing venues to change how they operate.
The MVT at the time cast doubt on this, arguing it was not a “guaranteed” safeguard since it was not legally binding and had failed to prevent the closure of another London venue.
On Monday (30 March), the MVT congratulated the “much-loved” MOTH Club and praised Save Our Scene’s “extraordinary” letter-writing campaign.
Lloyd Bent, national coordinator for MVT England, told the LDRS the petition showed that the refusal was “in line with what people in Hackney want”.
“MVT hopes that Hackney Council makes the right decision and refuses this one, too,” Mr Bent added