Hackney Council are considering plans to make Dalston in East London a ‘Special Policy Area’ in order to curb 24-hour off-licenses and late-night venues.

As FACT note, the policy would make it nigh on impossible to obtain the relevant licence to open a new club or host late shows. The reasoning for their decision, the council say, is that the area has become “saturated” with night-time hotspots, causing unpleasantness for other residents.

The change of law would mean that no new venues would be able to open past midnight, but remaining venues could still operate as normal.

While pick-pocketing and other related crime in the area has rose by 94% between 2009 and 2012, another survey in 2011 found that 77% of locals were against making Dalston a SPA.

Photo by Jonathan Fisher