London’s best-known gay club could face closure at a crunch meeting on Friday as police investigate an alleged rape and assaults at the premises.
World-famous LGBT+ venue Heaven has been shuttered for three weeks after a security guard was charged with raping a drunk 18-year-old woman in a car near the venue last month. Staff are accused of then ignoring her efforts to report the attack.
Ahead of a hearing on Friday morning which could see the venue lose its licence, Westminster City Council has been told of a string of other offences linked to the venue - including a reported assault by bouncers on the same day as the alleged rape.
In that incident, a woman was allegedly “chased and then tackled to the floor” by a security guard who accused her of taking drugs, leaving her needing to go to an urgent treatment centre.
She woke up in pain and was forced to “limit her daily activities while taking painkillers”, according to a police report sent to the council.
In another alleged assault in May, bouncers at the Charing Cross venue were “filmed assaulting a customer in the street.”
The Metropolitan Police has already called Heaven “the highest crime generator” in the West End, a characterisation rejected as “unfair” by owner Jeremy Joseph.
In a letter, Met Inspector Tony Beasley said the woman who was allegedly raped by the security guard on November 1 was “horribly let down” by Heaven’s staff and that management “did not have the public's safety at the centre of their operation.”
“At the centre of all this is a young lady whose life has been devastated by circumstances on the night she attended Heaven with friends,” he said.
“From when she initially joined the queue, two hours later when she was taken away to be raped by Heaven door staff, to when she returned to Heaven in the early hours to report the rape to other staff and was dismissed, she was horribly let down by Heaven staff and this needs to be addressed so it cannot be repeated.”
The venue has pleaded with councillors not to close them down - and revealed it plans to sell off Heaven’s sister bar, G-A-Y in Soho’s Old Compton Street, due to mounting financial difficulties.
In a statement to the town hall, Mr Joseph said he was “disgusted” by the alleged rape, but stressed that changes had already been made, including new security staff.
He asked councillors not to curtail Heaven’s operation, saying it would “push us under”.
“We have lost all income for three weeks,” he said. “Through that period, 20,000 people would have come through our doors and spent money in our venue.
“That loss wipes out our profit for the year. Our sister venue G-A-Y Bar has in turn had to be sacrificed, that is another LGBT venue, about to go as soon as we can find a buyer, our landlords have been informed.
“To lose this on top of G-A-Y Late a year ago has been an awful experience. While we are still having to pay our rent, rates and other expenses, as well as legal and consultancy fees generated by the review. It has been very tough to experience that and watch our financial stability melt away.
“It has also been a lesson that this is something we cannot afford and do not want to experience again.”
Mr Joseph said police have suggested councillors should reduce the venue’s operating hours to 2.30am, with a last entry at midnight, and curtail its capacity to 1,250 clubbers.
But he has asked them not to take those measures, saying it would push the club into bankruptcy.
Councillors on Friday could decide to revoke or suspend Heaven’s licence, or to place additional curtailments on its operation.
According to council papers, a group of 2,153 people have signed a statement supporting the review, citing crime concerns, while a group of 1,188 people have opposed the review, citing the loss to the LGBT community if Heaven were forced to close its doors.
