The board of Glasgow club The Arches will take legal action over last week’s decision to curtail the venue’s licensed hours. 

Last week the chairman of the Glasgow Licensing Board, Bill Butler, announced that the venue would be forced to close every day at midnight. According to the club’s executive director Mark Anderson, that “may well result in the closure” of the club, “one of Europe’s most highly regarded arts venues and a key contributor to Glasgow’s night time economy.”

In a new statement by the club’s board, they explain that they’re currently taking legal advice on appealing the decision, and clarify that this week’s scheduled events will go ahead as planned.

Mark Anderson says: “We are still stunned by Friday’s decision and at a loss to understand just what more we could have done to provide a safer clubbing environment at The Arches. Over the period under review, we welcomed over 250,000 clubbers through our doors. Of that number, just 0.14% were reported for misuse of drugs incidents.”

“What is more worrying”, he continues, “is that despite the increased safety measures we adopted on the recommendation of Police Scotland, which had already alienated many of our valued club customers, our successful operation of those policies has resulted in the statistics being used against us.”

Lucy Mason, the club’s artistic director, adds that “we have been overwhelmed by the humbling and heartening support for The Arches and would like to thank everyone for being so passionate and articulate on our behalf. It is impossible to imagine the cultural landscape with The Arches wiped of the map, a situation which is entirely possible given the interdependency of the Arts and Club activity within our organisation.”

For the full statement, head here. A petition to save the club currently holds over 30,000 signatures.