London venue Madame Jojo’s closes following ‘serious incident of disorder’ and licence loss

Promoters White Heat confirm the news in a statement

London gig venue and club Madame Jojo’s is set to close.

A statement from the organisers of White Heat, the influential club night that runs on Tuesdays at the Soho venue, have cited the council’s revoking of the venue’s licence and a “serious incident of disorder” occuring at the venue as the reason for the closure.

“As of Thursday we were informed that Madame Jojo’s has had its licence revoked by the council, rendering White Heat homeless after 10 years of Tuesday night events,” the statement from White Heat reads.

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“We have been aware of the worsening situation for the last month following a serious disorder that shut the venue down immediately on 28th October. Initially this closure was for a week but was extended to a month following a licence review.”

Having obtained a police report, This Is Cabaret report that the “serious incident of disorder” refers to a “violent incident” involving bouncers of the club and its sister club Escape.

“As seen on CCTV, bouncers pulled baseball bats hidden in black bin liners to take on assailants throwing glass bottles at them,” the report says. It claims that an employee of the club can be seen holding an individual against a wall so a colleague could punch him “numerous times”. The report continues to allege that “members of the public were caught in the crossfire with several hurt by the flying bottles; one received a one-inch cut to the rear of his head.”

The statement from White Heat continues: “We were assured that Madame Jojo’s would reopen after Thursday 20th November following the findings of that licence review, and we would be able to continue our Tuesday night residency as we have done for the past decade, however this has not been the case. The council has instead opted to revoke the venue licence.”

“We have built Madame Jojo’s as a live venue around White Heat so it is completely gutting to lose our home… We will spend the next few weeks trying to find out where might work as a permanent home in the near future.”

The likes of Lorde, The xx, Adele, Klaxons, The Horrors and more have played at Madame Jojo’s over the years.

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The venue’s owners are yet to issue a statement.

The news comes soon after the announcement that north London venue Buffalo Bar is to close down. The likes of The Horrors and The Subways have offered their support to Buffalo Bar, with an online petition calling for its survival attracting over 5,000 signatures.

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