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WATCH: VICE's search for the dark heart of the UK Gabber Scene:
While thousands of ordinary people wrote oppose Hackney's plans, the council doesn't seem to want to know. Local councillors have a clear idea of what their constituents look like, and they don't look like clubbers. Dan Beaumont is the man behind Dalston Superstore and Dance Tunnel: "You will find that a lot of people who complain about bars, look and sound like councillors," he said. "What we have to try and do is widen the perspective so that we end up with a settlement that works for most of the people who live in Hackney."Hackney Council now plans to hold another consultation next year. Perhaps there will be a different policy. Or, perhaps the same battle will have to take place again. Jonathan Downey is a restaurateur and bar owner who helped organize the We Love Hackney campaign. He told me he hopes a proper discussion will take place. But he's not confident. "I don't think the people involved in formulating that policy and then operating it are the right people," he said. "They either change, or they've got to be replaced. It's just another mess from the council's licensing division."
This problem isn't isolated within Hackney. Local authorities across the UK seem to think that nightlife can be easily separated from the rest of our cultural landscape. They're wrong. You can't pick and choose the aspects of culture that you like, shutting down bars and clubs but keeping the coffee art and the pop-up opera. Perhaps local councillors don't recognize the role that nightlife has played in the evolution of our cities. Maybe they just don't care.They should. Shortly after I arrived at the We Love Hackney event, I spoke to Alan Miller, chair of the Night Time Industries Association. "If everyone in Hackney truly said, 'We don't want any of this,' we'd have to think again," he told me. "But millions of people every week go out voting with their feet. Local councillors in Hackney and across the country get less votes than we've had in the We Love Hackney campaign. People should take note of that."Follow Mark on Twitter.Over on Noisey: We Created Guess Wu—The World's First Rap Board Game