Heaven club in arbitration dispute with landlord over alleged £320,000 rent increase
Club owner Jeremy Joseph has already spent nearly £10,000 in legal fees
London's iconic Heaven club is going into arbitration with its landlord over an alleged £320,000 rent increase.
Club owner Jeremy Joseph – who is also behind the popular G-A-Y events – wrote in a statement shared to Instagram on Monday (26th February) that he has been involved in a fight with the venue landlord, The Arch Company, since last September.
According to Joseph, the venue's landlord has demanded a £240,000 rent increase in addition to the automatic rent hike of £80,000, which amounts to £320,000 in total.
"We have been fighting them for five months and they aren't willing to back down so it's going to go to arbitration and has cost us already nearly £10,000 in legal fees," Joseph wrote.
"Watching how so many venues have closed or are struggling because of rent increases, I am going public with this and letting everyone know what we are going through, its been extremely stressful and the fight has just begun as its time to put public pressure on landlords."
He continued: "This isnt just about Heaven, this is about every hospitality venue because if our rent goes up, it will increase the rent of other venues, because at arbitration, they use other comparable rents to value yours."
In a statement sent to Resident Advisor, The Arch Company said Heaven was "a long-term and valued customer" and that they've "been working closely with them to reach an agreement on the market rent" for the premises. "Unfortunately, we've not been able to agree this between ourselves," they wrote.
Located under London's Charing Cross station, Heaven thrived in the '80s and '90s, to become one of the capital's most well-known and enduring LGBTQIA+ clubs.
Last month, a new report by the Music Venue Trust (MVT) revealed that 38% of the 835 grassroots venues in the UK made a loss in 2023, emphasising rent hikes as a key factor. The report found that the venue rental costs increased by an average of 37.5% in 2023.
Additionally, figures from the MVT in January 2024 showed that 2023 was the UK's worst year for music venue closures. According to stats, 125 grassroots music venues shut over the past 12 months with rising rents across the UK squeezing venue owners' profit margins, putting many of them in an unsustainable financial position.
Dive into our recent feature exploring the future of London clubbing.
Back in August 2021, Heaven gave out 1,000 COVID-19 jabs in response to growing concerns about the low vaccination uptake among young people in the UK.
