On Monday Dance Tunnel announced its planned closure for later on this year. Following allegations that this is due to Hackney Council's licencing procedure we have released the following statement. 

Dance Tunnel has a premises licence to operate until 3am. They have not applied to extend their opening hours for over two years. They have however been able to regularly operate until 5am using Temporary Event Notices.

Hackney Council values its vibrant and exciting nightlife, and we are proud of the borough’s reputation as a night-time destination. However, we need to balance the needs of businesses against the rights of our residents to a good night’s sleep, and as both our population and night time economy grow, that is becoming increasingly hard to do.

In February we organised a meeting in Shoreditch with residents and business owners, to hear their opinions about how we can strike the right balance. We’ll be arranging other opportunities for people to have their say over the coming months, and this will feed into our licensing strategy.