Dance Academy in Plymouth Raided

Well, it finally happened. Following on from the Fridge raid, 'Eyecon' at the Dance Academy here in Plymouth was raided on Saturday night and the local council are now looking for a 3 month closure leading to a permamnent revocation of its license. Several clubbers were arrested and hauled of by the Police including resident Tom Costelloe on suspicion of allowing the supply of illegal substances on the premises. I suspect it won't be the last visit by the local constabulary to some of our local venues. As Plymouth City Council has big plans for the re-generation of the Union Street and Millbay areas (in which the Academy sits) I would imagine this would be a golden opportunity for them to finally remove an awkward obstacle and move forward. Can't say I'm particularly bothered as the place is a complete tip and eyesore anyway and should have been bulldozd donkey's years ago but unfortunately, the frontage has Grade 2 listed status.

I'll try and keep you all posted on developments as they are reported in the local press (for those of you that might b interested). Cheers.

The latest as reported in the local press:

Steel shutters were going up at Plymouth's Dance Academy today after a court ordered it shut for three months following a police drug raid at the weekend.

Police told magistrates yesterday that the Union Street club was being used on a large scale for consumption and dealing of Class A drugs and that the owner, Manoch Bahmanzadeh, and management allowed it to go on.

The closure order is the first such application to be granted anywhere outside London.

Hundreds of ecstasy tablets - some found on bar staff - were seized by police when 140 officers raided the club in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The court heard drugs were found 'all over the club' and that a lot had been dropped on the floor by some of the 220 startled clubbers when police invaded the premises.

Dylan Sadler, senior lawyer for the city council's anti-social behaviour unit, who was making the closure application on behalf of police, described the club as 'a filling station for class A drugs'.

Det Insp David Huggett, based at Charles Cross, said the club had been the target of a covert police operation for five months and that undercover officers had been sent in on previous Saturday nights to 'test-purchase' drugs.

He said: "The club was being used for the sale and consumption of Class A drugs. The owner and the management team were wholly aware of the scale of the problem and were allowing it to go ahead.''

He said that during the weekend raid one member of staff had been found in possession of 100 ecstasy tablets; another had 60 tablets.

He said: "They were arrested and the staff member who had 100 tablets said in interview that people appeared to be 'off their heads' in the club.

"She said that management ignored it or took no notice of what was going on. She said no one had ever been searched for drugs in her presence.''

DI Huggett said undercover officers were already inside when the raid took place. "They were providing information that there was dealing in drugs going on and that people were openly consuming drugs," he said.

"They also reported there had been violence and that someone had been 'bottled' over the head.''

A sample of 300 tablets later sent to a police laboratory for testing had been found to be ecstasy.

He said: "Class A drugs were found in every area of the club.''

Mr Sadler said notice of the closure application had been served on the club's licensee, Justin Hayward, as required by law, but Mr Hayward had not turned up to contest the application.

Mr Bahmanzadeh had given assurances in the past about drugs in the club, he said, but 'the situation has deteriorated. Licensing conditions were being flaunted to the extent that people were opening buying and taking drugs and being expelled from the club, sometimes at 8am, while under the influence of drugs. To have staff involved in the supply of Class A drugs was at least anti-social behaviour.'

He said Mr Bahmanzadeh had business interests elsewhere in the city, as owner of both the Cooperage and the Phoenix.

Mr Sadler said: "We will now take steps to have his licence revoked. The police will say that he cannot be a bad licence-holder of one club and a good licence-holder of another.

"By the immediate closure, the police hope it sends out a very strong message to Plymouth licensees that they are taking a pro-active approach to this sort of situation.''

He also said that there would be an application served on Mr Bahmanzadeh to pay the

I don't know the man so I couldn't possibly comment.

Jeeezuz.. what's going on over there!

I thought that the UK had learned the lesson about why, all things in, it's still better to have parties in clubs than driven underground...

Like i said before, the Fridge will not shut.... that was the 6 millionth time that place has been raided and it will again.   As for this place in Plymouth, if the guy is letting the drug dealing go on then what the fuck does he expect.  It's not as if it's a major player in the club scene and the night couldn't go elsewhere.  You guy's take all this crap far too seriously, the dance scene was strong in the underground and illegal parties, was strong when it started going into warehouses, even stronger when it went to the clubs.... what makes you think that a few people raiding a few poxy shit holes is going to be damaging to something that can't actually be broken.. the absolute passion for the music!!  Also, have ya realised that it's only the shitty litttle dives that are getting targeted, when they raid Fabric or the Brixton Academy THEN i would start to think differently!!!

The scene is almost 20 years strong... nobody is going to stop it!!!!

Your comments are a little bit ill-conceived.  There are hardly any hard dance clubs in the South West of England at the moment - unlike a few years ago.

People from all over the SW of the UK go to this club as it's one of the only places where hard dance can be heard in a relatively high-capacity venue outside of places like Slinky.

So in other words... you're speaking bollocks.  It's the places like this club that we should worry about getting shut down rather than the large mega-clubs.

 

 

Don't be silly, there will be another place open up soon enough, it's just a small club and there are plenty of venues around that could be utilised... it doesn't have to be right in ya backyard!!!  There's never been a decent club round my way, i've had to go to london every time and that's an hour on the train!!!   In the 16 years i've been going raving/clubbing i've seen this thing happen a thousand times, it's nothing to worry about mate.  The passion for the scene will always pull through and the commitment of the clubbers and promoter's is something that the local authorities seem to underestimate!!

So no, i'm not speaking bollox, just the truth!!  A lot of the younger generation haven't seen this kind of thing happen to their precious scene before and of course it's a scary prospect of losing it but trust me.... it ain't gonna happen.  And like i said, if the owner was letting it go on under his roof then he really deserved it, as whatever anybody thinks about taking drugs and dealing them, it is illiegal

nah, it's notoriously hard to get a license for premises to do all night clubs in the south west

 

Fucking liars! When i try scoring in there i can never find any dealers lol... Maybe it was my northern accent that scared them away?