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The party could be over for Camden Town nightspots
THE party could be over for Camden Town - with the borough set to call time on the explosion of trendy bars and clubs that have made the area famous.
Councillors have finally realised that the number of nightspots is reaching breaking point - and is considering tightening up the rules.
This comes as long-suffering residents submit complaint after complaint about drinkers staggering down their streets, smashing up their cars and urinating in their gardens.
One fed-up man is even thinking of suing Camden Council for breaching his human rights by allowing so many bars and clubs to open.
Liberal Democrat councillor Matt Sanders - who is leading a cross-party group of councillors in a mass consultation with residents - said: "There has been an explosion of bars and entertainment venues in Camden but if you talk to residents, they feel their views are not being taken into account. If you talk to anyone in Harmood Street, they will tell you of people staggering down the street at night and urinating in the front gardens.
"There is a general feeling that Camden's licensing laws could be better. So they have to change."
It is down to Camden Council to grant permission for any new drinking venue that wants to open - and in recent years it has given the green light to restaurant and bar Gilgamesh, dinner and theatre venue Shaka Zulu, restaurant and vodka bar Zorya and the newly-enlarged gallery and bar Proud Camden.
But next year, it is reviewing all its licensing laws - and when it does so, it will take Councillor Sanders' consultation into account.
This could well mean that it becomes harder for bars and clubs to open in Camden Town - although Councillor Sanders has insisted that the "party is definitely not over".
Residents, however, are hoping that it is.
Customer care manager Ivan Faudet, 40, secretary of the Harmood Hartland and Clarence Residents' Association, said: "There is a lot of noise. The traffic is impossible. The trains and buses can't cope. The litter is unbelievable. People urinate in the gardens. And our car - which had not been touched for 15 years - has been vandalised twice in a year.
"We are never going to close every venue but we don't have enough security, we don't have enough CCTV and we don't have enough control over licences. Something needs to be done."
Market researcher Jay Mistry, 43, of Hartland Road, added: "There has been an explosion in the number of venues in the past five years. At the moment, I am looking for a human rights lawyer to take the council to court. A family has the right to enjoy a private life but ours has been violated."
But Shaka Zulu in the Stables Market -which undertook waves of consultation with residents before opening, which is now opening its venue to the community, and which is suggesting ways in which late-night revellers can more quietly leave the market - believe it is entirely possible for nightspots and residents to co-exist.
Spokesman Alex Rayner said: "We are spearheading a management revolution in the area. Residents and bars can co-exist - if you have bar operators who care, and who realise that Camden is an extremely popular place.
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