Nightclub managers hoping to reopen a venue with a history of violence and gang links have been given the go-ahead.

A Croydon Council Licensing Subcommittee granted applicant Chantel Palmer and her management team permission to open TABU Lounge, an over 25’s nightclub, on London Road at the home of former venue The Club last night.

Police and licensing officers with the council moved to close The Club, run by former Radio One DJ Chris Goldfinger in December 2010 after a catalogue of incidents including mass crawls, stabbings and shootings.

Represented at the hearing by her agent Mr Patel, the TABU lounge team argued they had shown, through a series of 15 one-off events during the past year, they could moved the venue away from its chequered past.

Mr Patel said: “It has been an uphill battle because there was a real history with the venue. During the past ten months, running the temporary events has allowed us to put good practices in place address any issues the police or licensing officers may have, and provided valuable experience for the running of TABU.”

He pointed to a stringent set of conditions set out by the police as providing safeguards against incidents of violence and emphasised these conditions would be met.

These include limiting capacity to 270 people, restricting opening hours to 2am between Monday and Wednesday, installing comprehensive CCTV, with at least 16 cameras, and employing at least four doormen, all fully checked and licensed, at all times.

A nearby resident Luger Hoffman-Engl argued two temporary events held last month at the venue show what issues residents will face.

He said noise spill took place when the doors were opened and a street vendor had set up across the road and was causing increased noise and disturbance as a result of the club.

Mr Patel refuted the noise claims and said police had been informed of the street vendor’s activities.

The committee agreed to grant the license application provided the conditions laid out by police were met.