The fight is on to save 24 Kitchen Street

The future of Liverpool’s 24 Kitchen Street venue is under threat (again) from neighbouring residential plans, according to the owners.

A post on the Baltic Triangle club’s Facebook page said their ‘worst fears are being confirmed’ as the council seeks to give permission to a neighbouring block of flats that would ‘almost certainly lead to noise complaints’.

Owners say that the council have suggested seeking Temporary Event Notices (TEN) for their louder events, but that this may affect up to 60-90 shows per year (the venue is only allowed to apply for twelve TENs per year).

24 Kitchen Street state that they are ‘not prepared to accept this’ and would rather shut their doors than work ‘under such restrictive conditions’.

Ioan Roberts, the venue’s owner, has set up a campaign - #savekitchenstreet - to rescue the venue, and is appealing for £30,000 in order to mount a legal challenge against the developer and the council.

Roberts says they will use the money to hire a barrister and seek to implement a ‘Deed of Easement’, which would allow the venue to continue with current noise levels without fear of complaint and potential closure. (This deed has previously been used to save late night venues including Ministry of Sound in London.) 

For their part, Liverpool council say they have spent ‘a huge amount of time’ working with the venue and the developer on acoustic issues.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, a council spokesman said: “After a number of noise assessments and late night visits the council is satisfied that the new residential building incorporates a sufficiently high-performance specification of acoustic proofing which would sufficiently mitigate against noise from typical events at 24 Kitchen Street.”

However, the council has been criticised for contradicting their own recently adopted ‘Agent of Change’ principle, which supposedly seeks to protect venues such as 24 Kitchen Street from property developers.

You can find out more about 24 Kitchen Street’s campaign via their GoFundMe page and change.org petition, and buy tickets for upcoming events below.