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Warehouse where rave was staged |
Plug pulled on warehouse rave
Noise team shut down party that brought 900 flocking to Mercedes building
THEY came dressed in builders’ jackets and wellies, and audaciously began moving in music speakers in daylight.
Twelve hours later the party was in full swing and set to run until morning, but the rave was not to last.
Just a few hours into the DJs happy hardcore set at a disused Mercedes warehouse in West Hampstead, the plug was pulled on the secret bash after neighbours complained of hearing music blaring out from half-a-mile away.
At around midnight the council’s enforcement team and police moved in, yanking out speakers and switching off the smoke machine. The unlicensed bar was packed up and the 900 ravers told to go home.
The party in Blackburn Road, on the path that leads from West End Lane to the 02 Centre, on Saturday October 17, was the second time an empty Mercedes building had been taken over. Squatters moved into its Finchley Road car showroom earlier this year.
Security officer Darren Killeen, 32, who works at a timber merchants yard opposite the Blackburn Road building, saw the party organisers setting up.
“Two guys had the keys for the gate,” he said. “They set up decks, speakers and electrical equipment. They were dressed as builders in high-vis jackets, wellies and rough jeans. I thought they were looking for somewhere to live.”
He added: “The rave era is dead. It was an 80s and 90s factory scene, but the warehouse was a good place for a party. I would have liked to go.”
It is thought organisers sent out directions to the rave in texts to revellers just hours before the party, but they failed to outwit Camden’s noise team.
A council press officer said: “The organisers were offered a chance to turn the music off but refused, so the council gained an entry warrant from a local magistrate.
“They told the organisers that, unless they switched off the music, all equipment would be seized. Eventually, organisers agreed to turn off the music, and the revellers left.”
Superintendent Raj Kohli said police would be dealing “robustly” with illegal parties in the run-up to Christmas and New Year. The success of the Blackburn Road closure should serve as a warning, he added.
A Halloween party, due to take over Waterlow Park in Highgate, was stopped before it even started after officers posted warning notices on organisers’ Facebook pages. Threats that arrests would be made scared off would-be revellers, police said. |
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