THE Scottish Government will do what it can to “safeguard” Glasgow arts venue The Arches.
Standing in for Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions, John Swinney told MSPs that the Scottish Government “will look in all ways that we possibly can do to assist in safeguarding the future of what I recognise as a significant cultural venue in the city of Glasgow and a venue that contributes a great deal to the cultural life of Scotland”.
Sandra White, the Glasgow MSP who asked the Government to offer support for the beleaguered venue, welcome the Deputy First Minister’s intervention and urged the council, the police and The Arches to “get round the table and see what can be done to either reverse the closure or see what can be done to reopen the doors as soon as possible.”
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop reaffirmed the Government’s wish to find a solution: “I met with Janet Archer from Creative Scotland again this morning to get a further update on the situation and to encourage them to continue their hard work with The Arches and the cultural sector in Glasgow.
“Creative Scotland are continuing to work with The Arches and Glasgow City Council/Glasgow Life to see how those artistic activities, which clearly inspired so many of our artists, can continue.”
Documents seen by The National show that ambulances were called out to The Arches 21 times over the course of a year, and that eight of those calls were related to drugs.
Over the same time period Police Scotland were called out 213 times.
The decision to remove The Arches’ late night licence was taken by Glasgow’s licensing board – a “quasi-autonomous” group which, although made up of councillors and serviced by Glasgow City Council, is separate from the council.
Although Glasgow City Council officers had agreed to advance funding to The Arches in the short term, to help give the club stability while it tried to find a solution to its difficulties, they were not in a position to influence any decision around the licence.
At the meeting, the licensing board was told by Police Scotland “there is a significant and ongoing risk to public safety, public health and the potential for further disorder due to patrons partaking in drugs misuse, combined with the consumption of alcohol”.
The board was warned “potentially lethal consequences... may arise from this situation should these matters not be addressed”.
Susan Aitken, leader of the SNP group on the council said that she would writing to the chairman of the city’s licensing board, Councillor Bill Butler, to ask him to lead a review of the way in which licensing decisions can affect cultural policy in Glasgow.
Aitken said: “There appears to be a lack of synergy between the city’s cultural policies and those of the licensing board and this mismatch is leading to problems such as those facing The Arches”.
Yesterday, supporters of The Arches made plans to protest outside Glasgow’s Licensing Board’s next meeting on June 19.
Protest organiser Joshua Brown said: “It will be a serious crime against the people of Glasgow and Scotland and our global profile for arts and culture if Police Scotland and the Glasgow Licensing Board are able to shut down The Arches permanently.”
Chief Superintendent Andy Bates – divisional commander for Police Scotland – defended the role of the police.
He said: “Police Scotland submitted a review to the City of Glasgow Licensing Board earlier this year for their consideration and decision.
“Our primary role was to protect and ensure public safety and in our view the frequency and volume of incidents that were occurring at The Arches nightclub would have resulted in fatal consequences had we not acted.
“We remain committed to supporting and working with the licensing industry across Glasgow and Scotland to ensure a safe environment for the public.”
Cora Bissett: Shame on those who have forced The Arches to close
Patrick Harvie: It’s not too late to save venue...we must have urgent rethink
Slam promoter: ‘Arches decision has put Glasgow on the map for the wrong reasons’
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here