NIGHT CLURS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 164, 4 March 1932, Page 2

NIGHT CLURS

OBJECTS OF ORGANISED POLICE RAIDS IN LONDON PATRONS . LOSING PAT^ENGE Revelations of a new massed attack on tbe night clnb life o£ the West End of London by Lord Trenchard, the new Scotland Yard Chief Commissioner of Police, wei*e made to the "Sunday Chronicle" recently. The innumerable raids on night ciubs in December were merely the prelude to a determined effort to abolish entirely the "night life" of the West' End. Despite the fact that nearly 600 clubs were raided and strUck off the register during last year a large numb'er of those clubs. are constantly springing up, mushrdom-like, in the places of their predecessors — ^which, almost without exception, go the same w,ay. When these clubs applied for the renewal of their licences on January 6 every one that had been in existence for less than 12 months was refused. Only the reputable clubs with unimpeachable books were spared. Meanwhile, the constant tension which reigns in the West End following the drastic measures adopted by Scotiand Yard is proving disastrous to the trade. Many club proprietors are closing of their own accord owing to the fact that running a night club is no" longer a paying business. The constant interference of the police has exhausted the patience of the habitues of these clubs, who are tired of drinking in an atmosphere of subterfuge and anxiety. "Even clubs which are not struck off the register are. ffnding trade under the present restrictions impossible," a well-known club proprietor said. "Every evening We are pestered with curious strangers who try to make us break the regulations "On many occasions strangers — looking extraordinarily like plainclothes policemen — have accosted members and tried to get into the club on some pretext or other. In the case of other clubs they have been known to succeed, and once inside they do their best to pay for drinks. If they are allowed to, of course, a raid takes place at once. It is a farce, and we are all heartily sick of it."