Police say the owner of The Camden club has breached multiple licensing rules, including failing to alert them after two violent incidents in one night
Camden Council has placed strict conditions on a nightclub where managers twice failed to call the police after two bar brawls.
The Camden, an events space in the titular borough, had caught the ire of Metropolitan Police officers who reported poor management and a “culture of non-compliance” was jeopardising public safety, amid a slew of complaints about noise from neighbours.
At a council hearing on Thursday (August 13), police accused the premises licence holder of repeatedly breaching licensing conditions to “save money” and said they feared the club’s owner and premises licence holder, Mr Kashka Ray, was withholding CCTV footage that revealed alleged crimes committed at the club.
Police said this included one night where a man punched a woman in the stomach, “triggering her to have a panic attack”. Although he was removed from the club, the Met claimed no effort was made to identify or detain the man or alert the police.
The same night, another man who started a fight with customers was ejected. Once again, managers did not call the police. The Met highlighted several more incidents, notably claiming that Mr Ray was caught on camera sneaking in patrons past 1am on New Year’s Eve.
The Camden opened in 2022, but previously faced a licensing review in May 2025 after police raised repeated violations of licensing conditions and raised concerns about one employee’s immigration status. The Met pushed for the club to be shut down, but eventually agreed to introduce extra rules. However, the managers who agreed to this soon left the venue.
On Thursday, the police listed a range of subsequent breaches since May 2025 including the failure to share CCTV footage on time and the owner ignoring proposals to reduce operating hours. Further footage, the police claimed, showed another violent brawl on the club’s balcony in March 2026.
Other breaches included the venue hosting an under-18s event in July, despite licensing conditions dictating that children are not allowed on the premises. “They just don’t care,” said Met Police lawyer Michael Feeney.
The venue, on the other hand, argued it was being over-regulated as it struggled to meet all 150 conditions laid down by the council, especially since it had been hard to recruit enough qualified staff. The club’s solicitor added that the reason managers did not alert police about the woman being punched was because it was a “domestic incident” and she allegedly did not want anything more than for the man to leave the venue.
But councillors were not swayed by the venue’s defence that the issues stemmed from the extent of licensing conditions and problems with management, which Mr Feeney deemed “laughable”.
Cllr Richard Atkins (Green) said: “If there are venues struggling to keep hold of their security based on [this] information, violence against women and girls is more likely to be perpetrated, which is not something to take lightly.”
The Camden’s lawyers at first insisted there was “no evidence” that operating hours needed to be cut, and offered instead to change the licence holder. By the end, they offered to ensure two more managers were on premises at all times.
The licensing panel decided to overhaul the rulebook and replace it with 49 “simplified” conditions, introducing changes floated by the Met. These included that the venue should close at midnight from Sunday to Tuesday, 1am on Wednesday and Thursday, and that weekend hours be cut by two hours from 4am to 2am. The club will also be required to have five security staff on site at all times.
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