Fabric has pledged to use the surplus cash from its fundraising campaign to help "other worthy causes within the industry" after winning its bid to reopen.
Islington Council revoked the club’s licence back in September, citing major safety concerns following the drug-related deaths of two teenagers at the Farringdon nightspot. But ahead of next week's scheduled hearing the parties reached a compromise agreement for Fabric to reopen, subject to strict licensing conditions, which was rubber-stamped on Monday by District Judge Robin McPhee. A reopening date is yet to be announced.
"As part of the settlement, we were required to sign a joint statement by the council which precludes us from making any further statement in relation to the appeal, so we won’t," said Fabric MD Gary Kilbey.
Supporters helped raise more than £325,000 towards the club's legal costs, of which almost £190,000 remained as of last Friday, according to its latest transparency statement. "We envisage having a substantial surplus due to the overwhelming support that’s been shown to us and these residual funds will be used to help other worthy causes within the industry, including [Fabric's barrister] Philip Kolvin QC’s pursuance of licencing reform which is he currently championing,"said Kilbey. "We will look to report on this in our final transparency statement."
Kilbey added: "We owe so much to so many people for making this outcome possible. As such we’d like to express our deepest gratitude to the thousands of people who each played such a crucial role in getting us here.
"If you donated, keep an eye on your inbox as we will very shortly be inviting you to cement your part in Fabric’s history and be part of a piece of artwork we are creating to install in the club.
We are now looking forward to the future and being able to open up our club again. We’re fixed on that moment that we turn the sound system back on and reunite the fabric family in our disco to engage in enjoying the world class music of our residents and family of artists. This is what it has always been about – being able to share in these experiences, together. We hope to see you back in EC1 very soon."
