Reframe the Night Venue Poster

Venues across Hackney are set to receive training and a toolkit from independent initiative Good Night Out, who work with licensed premises to help stamp out sexual harassment in the night time economy. 

The training, which will be delivered to all venues who sign-up to the Council’s new night time safety charter Hackney Nights, will help venues to respond to and ultimately prevent sexual harassment on their premises. 

It comes as part of the Council’s Reframe the Night campaign, which is led in partnership with City of London Corporation and Good Night Out. The campaign promotes stark messages tackling damaging night time myths; using posters displayed across both boroughs and on social media. For example, seriously tackling the damaging culture of victim blaming and ensuring that the onus is fully on the perpetrator. 

By signing-up to the Hackney Nights Charter, venues pledge to take all complaints of sexual harassment seriously and to ensure that appropriate action is taken to address issues that occur on their premises. The Charter also commits licensees to prominently display the campaign’s messaging on their premises, which was developed by Good Night Out drawing from their extensive experience in tackling sexual harassment in the night time economy. 

Local venues who have signed-up to the Charter will also receive a toolkit to accompany the training, which will take place on Tuesday 18 February. The toolkit, will include guidance on how to spot potentially harmful situations and how to prevent them, as well as including campaign posters, pledge certificates and Hackney Nights’ window transfers for display on venues’ premises. 

Keelan Warr, Operations Manager at Village Underground, said: "Village Underground was an early adopter of the Good Night Out initiative, and through training and awareness all of our event team staff - from security to technicians and bar staff - have found it useful. The training has provided us with the tools, knowledge and confidence to challenge harassment and prevent instances of sexual assault. We are proud to support the council's decision to adopt the Good Night Out Campaign, helping Hackney venues take a unified approach to safer nightlife in the borough."

As well as the training from Good Night Out, the Charter will also oversee the delivery of monthly training sessions for local venues on other key night time safety issues, including substance misuse and conflict prevention. These sessions will go hand-in-hand with regular public-awareness campaigns designed to drive positive behaviour change toward a safer night time experience across the borough for all.

All actions under the Charter, along with additional police activity on the ground, will be funded by Hackney’s Late Night Levy. The Levy is paid for by local late-night licensed venues to contribute towards policing and the management of night time economy areas, ensuring that residents are protected from the impacts of anti-social behaviour and crime.