Do You Think The Law Sould Close Niche Down ?

I am going this as a favor for chris bailey niche manager, please have your say about the club and your feelings

This will then be sent off to the star newspaper

Thanks Lee Malton

never been to niche its not my kind of music, but its unfair to punish those who just want to dance.

But is it fair to allow drug taking?
Personally I wouldn't close the place but I would get rid of the drugs in there, maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job.

Originally posted by speeed
But is it fair to allow drug taking?
Personally I wouldn't close the place but I would get rid of the drugs in there, maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job.

wise words mate, cant fault ya :thumbsup:



:clap:

Maybe then a lot of the people that like the music and dont go for the reputation would start going, drinks sales would increase and hey ho a bigger profit for the club! Well in an ideal world anyway.

Originally posted by speeed
But is it fair to allow drug taking?
Personally I wouldn't close the place but I would get rid of the drugs in there, maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job.

You know and i know every nightclub has got a drug problem

TRUE?

well 90% do
but its how big the problem is
and i am not havin a go at the niche as i have never been in there

Originally posted by malton_s5
You know and i know every nightclub has got a drug problem

TRUE?

Maybe, however the size of the problem and the fact that drug taking is allowed and everyone that I know who goes, goes for that reason. Everyone I know that likes the music but wont go is due to the fact that the place has a reputation. Lose the reputation, and gain customers and credability as a nice club.

Perhaps they should leave it open as at least then it'll mean their more undesirable patrons won't be at other venues?

Originally posted by hotphil
Perhaps they should leave it open as at least then it'll mean their more undesirable patrons won't be at other venues?

...but the udesirables are at other locations. Those Ive seen at Niche arent doing any harm to other people.

I went to Plug a few weeks back and it was like Pill heaven in there. Pill heads everywhere I went, and If I werent seeing people popping pills I was being asked by pill heads if I had any for sale.

even a stop and search wouldn't stop drug taking inthe club- they only way you would stop people taking drugs in is to strip search everyone which just isn't possible!! people don't walk into clubs with them in there pockets- they hide them and unless you REALLY look for them you have no chance!!!

The problem with niche is that it has a 'culture' of drug taking inside it- if you could possibly get the bouncers to be stricter in there and throw out ANYONE who is seen to be taking/smoking/using drugs in there it might start to change.

The people that go in there won't like this at all unfortunatly and if a major crackdown does happen they it WILL loose business in my opinion.

It is a catch 22 situation- the customers like to go there and take drugs but without drugs i doubt that as many customers would go!!!

And before anybody starts, yes i do think that most of the people in there take drugs - most people do in major clubs like that all over the country!

Is there any other club around where people do not take drugs? I think not.

Yes some people in Niche do take drugs, but that isnt Niche alone. it happens everywhere so i dont see the problem.

If you stopped drug taking at any club you would lose clientale.

Im afraid to say it but i think niche only gets specially picked up on because of the *stereotyped* people that go there!!!

Im sure if you raided the plug on a sat you would get just as many drugs!!!

Originally posted by malton_s5
You know and i know every nightclub has got a drug problem

TRUE?

Probably True but how many clubs have 300 coppers knocking on their door ?

I hate everything that Niche is all about but I think its unfair to shut a place down as some people have said because of a minority.. Keep it open but be aware that if whatever happens there continues then it will lose its licence through no fault of its own..

Originally posted by malton_s5
You know and i know every nightclub has got a drug problem

TRUE?

untrue!!!

i wouldn't say clubs like kingdom and the leadmill have a drug problem- its the mainsteam clubs that will have- GC (certain nights), niche, plug, pin-up- etc etc!!

But then again i wouldn't call it a problem either!

Originally posted by scottf
untrue!!!

i wouldn't say clubs like kingdom and the leadmill have a drug problem- its the mainsteam clubs that will have- GC (certain nights), niche, plug, pin-up- etc etc!!

But then again i wouldn't call it a problem either!

I know for a fact that Kingdom has loads of drugs going round. I dont know about Leadmill, but Kingdom definitely does.

Originally posted by speeed
maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job.

No-one would think to take the drugs before they went in of course.

Originally posted by spyro2000
I know for a fact that Kingdom has loads of drugs going round. I dont know about Leadmill, but Kingdom definitely does.

compared to the mainstream dance clubs i would say that its not really that comparable!

Originally posted by nick2
No-one would think to take the drugs before they went in of course.

I very much doubt they would, you don'y want to be absolutely hammered in a club at 10pm when the club night continues till 6am like niche.

Originally posted by scottf
compared to the mainstream dance clubs i would say that its not really that comparable!

Maybe not comparible, but considering the size of niche which is pretty small and the size of somewhere like Kingdom, it would be fair to say that there are probably more drugs going around in Kingdom.

I do see your point however, Plug is terrible for drugs.

Originally posted by spyro2000
Maybe not comparible, but considering the size of niche which is pretty small and the size of somewhere like Kingdom, it would be fair to say that there are probably more drugs going around in Kingdom.

I do see your point however, Plug is terrible for drugs.

Not been in the niche so i wouldn't be able to know, although it just might be you knowing the wrong type of people ;) ;)

Ok, so a stop and search on everyone entering the club is impractical.

So why dont the club employ one of those firms that supply a sniffer dog and handler and have them "scan" everyone that goes through the door ?

Originally posted by Dj_Shadowman
Ok, so a stop and search on everyone entering the club is impractical.

So why dont the club employ one of those firms that supply a sniffer dog and handler and have them "scan" everyone that goes through the door ?

same reason as we said- people just won't go because of it - its not in the best interests of the club!

Like it or loath it, lets face it Drugs are a major part of our society, for some people its recreational, for others its a necessity. These drugs are taken all over the city, and if any club recons they are drug free then they are wrong. As I believe someone on the thread has allready stated people smuggle drugs into the clubs, they will hide them in their underwear, down their socks, in their bras and in other even more undesirable locations. Unless you are going to physically strip search and do an internal body cavity search you will not find every bit of contraband entering a club.

Closing Niche will not stop people taking drugs, sure fine it will stop them taking them in Niche (If that has been the case), but does that actually achieve anything?. Are the 500 or so people who go there at the weekend suddenly going to stay at home at the weekend and stop taking drugs???

Would it not make more sence to encourage sensible Drug taking in a monitored and controlled enivironment? seeing as the battle to stop Drug taking appears to be floundering.

Until the government actually takles the Drug problem head on at the sources of the problem it will continue to thrive, it is part of our culture. The operation carried out at Niche at the weekend cost £400,000 of tax payers money and resulted in 12 arrests, some of which were for public order offences. Surely that 400,000 could have been better spent targeting the suppliers of drugs, rather than the end users?

In closing, if hypothetically, Niche is the only club in Sheffield with a Drug problem closing it will only force its cliental to frequent other venues in Sheffield, thus spreading rather than containing the problem. Is this a genuine solution?

Originally posted by NMD1
Like it or loath it, lets face it Drugs are a major part of our society, for some people its recreational, for others its a necessity. These drugs are taken all over the city, and if any club recons they are drug free then they are wrong. As I believe someone on the thread has allready stated people smuggle drugs into the clubs, they will hide them in their underwear, down their socks, in their bras and in other even more undesirable locations. Unless you are going to physically strip search and do an internal body cavity search you will not find every bit of contraband entering a club.

Closing Niche will not stop people taking drugs, sure fine it will stop them taking them in Niche (If that has been the case), but does that actually achieve anything?. Are the 500 or so people who go there at the weekend suddenly going to stay at home at the weekend and stop taking drugs???

Would it not make more sence to encourage sensible Drug taking in a monitored and controlled enivironment? seeing as the battle to stop Drug taking appears to be floundering.

Until the government actually takles the Drug problem head on at the sources of the problem it will continue to thrive, it is part of our culture. The operation carried out at Niche at the weekend cost £400,000 of tax payers money and resulted in 12 arrests, some of which were for public order offences. Surely that 400,000 could have been better spent targeting the suppliers of drugs, rather than the end users?

In closing, if hypothetically, Niche is the only club in Sheffield with a Drug problem closing it will only force its cliental to frequent other venues in Sheffield, thus spreading rather than containing the problem. Is this a genuine solution?

Top top post- agree 100%!!!!

FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM SHEFFIELD STAR WEBSITE

Close it
POLICE and council bosses today asked Sheffield magistrates to close down a city nightclub under tough legislation designed to shut down drug dens.

A temporary closure notice detailing their intention to apply for Niche nightclub to be closed under "crackhouse" legislation for three months was served on the management of the Sidney Street venue yesterday afternoon.
The notice closed the club temporarily pending today's court hearing under anti-social behaviour legislation designed to shut down crack dens.
The hearing was adjourned until December 12 - and the court heard the club must remain closed to the public until then.
Only the three club directors - Steven Baxendale, Brian Kay and Christopher Bailey - will be allowed to enter the building, along with the resident caretaker and one workman who can enter under the supervision of police to repair two doors damaged in the raid.
If next month's hearing is successful the venue will not be able to trade as a club for three months.
Before today's hearing Brian Kay, managing director of Established World Ltd which part-owns the club, denied the premises was used for drug dealing.
He said they intended to deny the allegations "profusely". He added: "We have received no documentation to support the allegations which the police are making.
"We will be looking to strike this application out on the grounds that it has been blown out of all proportion - none of the allegations are true."
The closure notice was issued after more than 300 officers - some of them armed - raided the club in the early hours of Sunday.
The street was cordoned off with a ring of officers to prevent anyone trying to escape and the force helicopter was used to monitor developments from the air.
So many officers were used in the raid buses were laid on to transport them to the venue.
They erected airport-style scanners supplied by the Home Office to search revellers for drugs and firearms, even checking clubbers' shoes.
Police sniffer dogs were also used in the operation.
Officers recovered a variety of substances which have been sent away for analysis.
Twelve people were arrested on suspicion of offences, including possession of Class A drugs.
Three were men from Manchester, two were men from Leeds and six men and a woman were from Sheffield. All but two, who were wanted by police working on other cases, were released on police bail pending further inquiries. One of the men was taken to Manchester where he was wanted on warrant by police and has subsequently appeared in court. The second man appeared at Sheffield Magistrates Court on Monday where he was sentenced to 40 hours community service for assault.

I go Niche regularly and would be well ticked off if it closed down theres no other club like it and for people that go regularly its more then just going clubbing its where you can see ur mates and chill out. Personnally I feel more safer in Niche than I do in any other club. Lets just hope that Niche is back on soon.

Originally posted by crisps_uk
you can see ur mates and chill out.

or space out haha

Originally posted by malton_s5
Do You Think The Law Sould Close Niche Down ?

I am going this as a favor for chris bailey niche manager, please have your say about the club and your feelings

This will then be sent off to the star newspaper

Thanks Lee Malton

Yes, send it off to show that the majority want it closing, though I doubt he'd thank you for it. :hihi:

Originally posted by speeed
But is it fair to allow drug taking?
Personally I wouldn't close the place but I would get rid of the drugs in there, maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job. Yeah coming from someone called SPEEED spelt with extra E's.

I fail to see the correlation between drug taking and ‘problem ‘venues. I seem to remember ‘Headcharge’ being rife with openly sold drugs and a friendlier club culture you could not find. The music played in Niche is only bearable after a few ‘mick mills’ and certainly the ability to be able to dance at such hysterical ‘speeeds’ would take a certain amount of the same name substance and a couple of beans.

And as for the commentator who said people wouldn’t take these drugs before hand as they don’t want to be hammered too early if the venue is open until 6am, fails to realise that it is BECAUSE of these drugs that you can do that and not in spite of them. You seem to be getting mixed up with the biggest ‘problem’ drug of all; alcohol. Alcohol, which is on sale legally at many venues near you and, I would argue, is the cause of more fights than any other substance.

Most people are scared about what they don’t know, fuelled, in part, by the media. You don’t need to go to deadly night clubs to get shot – these days a local travel agency will do nicely. I would hesitate a guess that the said detractors of the Niche night club have never been; and probably wouldn’t ‘get it’ if they did. An ex girlfriend of mine used to describe ‘Headcharge’ as ‘Hell on earth;’ those of us that used to frequent this establishment knew it only as Heaven. We thought this even though our ears would ring for thee days afterwards. (Happy daze)

I cannot see how criminalising a huge section of young people is going to help this situation or indeed facilitate a healthy debate on drug use. Certainly, recreational drugs should be legalised now, if only to stop people drinking so much. It is an insane culture that allows alcohol over cannabis – given the frightening statistics coming out of our hospitals’ liver units.

And, before you ask, I don’t take drugs anymore (or very infrequently anyway) nor do I drink anymore (or very infrequently) I sort of grew out of them in my late 20’s. But when I did take recreational drugs and drink alcohol I certainly didn’t feel like a criminal and never became violent once on pills or weed. I may have smashed up a few hotel rooms on drink – but hey – that’s rock and roll.

What we don’t need here, is a load of ‘p**sheads’ moralising about ‘pillheads. Give me the ‘pillheads’ any time of the night or day.’
:)

To ScottF,

You dont have a clue what your on about mate, why is kingdom not a mainstream dance club?

Every time ive been in there ive seen people pilled off their heads...Gatecrasher is more of a student club now anyway like leadmill, i would hazard a guess that the amount of drug users in kingdom and gatecrasher would be quite alike, infact kingdom is probably worse, its full of drug users bouncing about like Mr.Blobby with sweat dripping all over their bodies, you must not frequent these clubs or you would know that for yourself.

If the police want to tackle the drug problem, why don't they use their recources going after crack and heroin, those are the drugs that cause the problems.
People on pills dancing around once a week is hardly a threat to the fabric of society. I think this is all just about showing how tough they are because loads of moaners have been going on about 24 hour licensing.
Because they can't really do anything about the people who get tanked up and cause mayhem, they scapegoat other people - who aren't likely to cause any trouble - instead.
On the radio today the police were going on about the crime assosiated with drugs, but they know full well it's not people on drugs like the ones they got at Niche who are housebreaking and what have you.
It's just a big publicity stunt to make people who don't have a clue what's really going on feel something's being done about the drug problem.

Keep it open for me, i'm sure it only attracts the people who enjoy that kind of stuff. They are only harming or enjoying themselves. Its meant to be a free world, although i'm sure we all now know its as free as our governments allow:thumbsup:

I don't think the poll will be accurate, as most that have voted no are only going by what they've read in the papers and not from personal experience.

Niche is not particularly worse for drugs than any other nightclub, but it's the one in the spotlight after a couple of bad incidents spread over several years which no longer happen because of tighter security etc.

Leave it open. Hundreds of people in Sheffield work very hard all week and look forward to letting it all go on a night in Niche at the weekend. There are far less fights in Niche than there are in Kingdom because of a higher level of security..

If the issue is only because of drugs, then closing niche would be step one of closing down every club in Sheffield.. As they all have the same amount of drugs going round, some clubs have more and maybe a couple that have slightly less.

Not only should they leave it open, they should make it a landmark of Sheffield :D

Originally posted by toy_soldier
To ScottF,

You dont have a clue what your on about mate, why is kingdom not a mainstream dance club?

Every time ive been in there ive seen people pilled off their heads...Gatecrasher is more of a student club now anyway like leadmill, i would hazard a guess that the amount of drug users in kingdom and gatecrasher would be quite alike, infact kingdom is probably worse, its full of drug users bouncing about like Mr.Blobby with sweat dripping all over their bodies, you must not frequent these clubs or you would know that for yourself.

why??

Because mainstream danceclubs have mainstream DJ's at them week-in-week-out, look at the plugs listings!!! also when i say gatecrasher i am not talking about the student nights that they have- im talking about the proper club nights such as hed kandi or when they have a proper gatecrasher with trance Dj's on.

I hav'nt been to kingdom in a while and it may have quite a few pillheads in there now- i admit to not knowing- but calling it a mainstream danceclub because it just plays dance music- no chance!!!

Originally posted by malton_s5
You know and i know every nightclub has got a drug problem

TRUE?

Undoubtedly this is true......they all serve alcohol don't they??
And IMO this drug is the worst of them all (and I like a drink).

My own personal view is 'Do You Think The Law Sould Close Niche ?' is probably the wrong question.
What might be more constructive is, when will there be a proper and open debate about all drugs, their use and abuse and how to take them out of the black market?

NMD1 made a very good post.....

Regards.

Originally posted by BudLover
Undoubtedly this is true......they all serve alcohol don't they??
And IMO this drug is the worst of them all (and I like a drink).

My own personal view is 'Do You Think The Law Sould Close Niche ?' is probably the wrong question.
What might be more constructive is, when will there be a proper and open debate about all drugs, their use and abuse and how to take them out of the black market?

NMD1 made a very good post.....

Regards.

Absolutely right. Maybe the reason most politicians and journalists don't want an open debate, is because it will be exposed what a load of un-informed, cliched cack they all talk about drugs.

Originally posted by speeed
But is it fair to allow drug taking?
Personally I wouldn't close the place but I would get rid of the drugs in there, maybe a strict stop and search for all entering would do the job.

Have you actually ever been to Niche?? cos i you have you would realise that they do search the ass of you when you go in! I for one have been embarassed many a time when they have searched through my bad on entry! they have metal detectors and last week even searched my fella shoes!
Drug taking is everywhere, its part and parcel of the clubbing culture, not everyone takes drugs and good for them.
You pay a 10er to get in, you dont get an E and a spliff with your ticket!! DOH!

all i can say is i feel the safest in niche as i have in any other club! it was like home 2 me 4 the weekend! BRING BACK THE LEGEND THAT IS NICHE!!