Iconic Farringdon nightclub Fabric will be shut this weekend after two 18-year-old boys died of overdoses there in nine weeks.
The most recent incident happened on Saturday morning, when a boy collapsed outside the Charterhouse Street club at about 8.20am and was pronounced dead at about 9am.
It came after a boy died after being taken ill at the venue on June 25 shortly after 2am. Neither of the boys’ deaths is being treated as suspicious.
And an Islington Council spokesman said this evening that the Metropolitan Police has “applied for an interim suspension of Fabric’s licence”. The application has yet to be determined.
A statement on Fabric’s website this afternoon read: “For the past two years Fabric has operated without incident but tragically in the past nine weeks two 18-year-old boys have died as a consequence of drug overdoses.
“In order to understand how this has happened we have agreed with the police and other agencies to suspend our operation whilst we investigate. The club will therefore be closed this weekend.
“We will make a further statement next week but in the meantime for anyone who has purchased a ticket for the club this weekend, we have instructed Resident Advisor to refund all ticket purchases.”
A spokeswoman said Fabric was unable to comment further when contacted by the Gazette.
The world-famous club has a capacity of 2,500 and opened in 1999. It frequently tops polls of the most popular dance music venues.
Two years ago, police called for a review of Fabric’s licence in the wake of four drug-related deaths in three years. A further four people had collapsed after taking drugs such as ecstasy.
Islington Council called for sniffer dogs to be used at the club’s entrance to tackle the use of recreational drugs, but this was overturned after an appeal by Fabric.
DJs Apollonia and Rick Maia were among headliners for the cancelled weekend events. The entry policy on its website reads: “Anyone found with drugs and/or weapons will be permanently excluded. [...] Fabric operates a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs, so called ‘legal highs’ and weapons. If we find drugs or weapons we will call the police.”
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