City of Melbourne to meet over fate of Docklands’ floating ATET nightclub

The boss of a floating Docklands nightclub has hit back at the City of Melbourne as it moves to scrap the venue’s operating licence, claiming it will cripple a family business.

The founder of Docklands’ floating nightclub says he feels duped by the City of Melbourne as council meets to discuss scrapping his operating licence, warning of major financial pain for his family.

Jake Hughes has called out the council for flipping on its support for ATET well after he and his family had already received approvals and tied up finances in their dream project.

The venue was welcomed when it opened last year but since then has received noise complaints from Docklands apartment residents and was gutted by a fire in January.

Owners and staff gather after ATET was damaged by fire. Picture: NewsWire

Council surprised the business this month by announcing a motion to remove its operating licence, which will be debated on Tuesday before going to the state government for approval.

Mr Hughes said he was “incredibly frustrated” with the council after it helped the project for three years, granted planning permits and then changed their minds.

“It’s really disappointing that they can support a project for that long and then seem to be just be willing to pull the pin as easily, given what is it stake for me and my family,” he said.

“It’s a really drastic and unnecessary reaction given our willingness to work with them.

“To potentially destroy a family business … We put six years into this and literally everything is on the line.

ATET nightclub founder Jake Hughes with team member Lizzie Holliday. Picture: Instagram

“To basically pull the rug out from under like this is really disappointing, I feel pretty disillusioned with the whole system.”

Late last week the council released a preliminary report by the Environmental Protection Agency which found ATET’s noise levels to be excessive.

“Noise levels from the ATET nightclub are unreasonable and clear noncompliances have been established, with multiple exceedances of noise limits identified during the measurement period,” it stated.

ATET nightclub in the Docklands could soon be shut down. Picture: Instagram

But Mr Hughes said that this was not a valid justification to scrap the operating licence.

He said ATET had never been slapped with breach notices and had agreed to work to whatever standards set by the EPA in the report once their test results were made public.

“If the EPA come and say it’s gotta come down to this level then that’ is what we’ll do,” Mr Hughes said.

“They (the council) have an obligation to continue to work with us to find a solution.”

Mr Hughes said they had been trying for months to move to a different location, with multiple sites in mind he believes would deliver half the current noise levels.

ATET nightclub in the Docklands could soon be shut down by order of Melbourne City Council. Picture: Instagram

Floating club ATET was damaged in a fire earlier this year. Picture: Supplied

But he said the council instead moved to cancel his licence just two weeks after he presented his solution.

”There is a number of different ways that in some form, a floating event space in Docklands has a place,” he said.

“Its really disappointing for us that they would invite us to the table to work on it, we’d be willing to do it, and then they would basically turn their backs on us and leave us there and not bring us in on that conversation at all.”

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the council had received a record number of complaints about ATET since its launch.

“We have heard the community’s concerns and have been continuing to work closely with the business owner and relevant authorities to address these issues,” she said.

“Based on preliminary findings provided by the EPA since 16 May, there are consistent breaches of the noise protocols.”
Ms Capp said council had asked ATET to trade with background music only until it meet EPA requirements.

“We want to support ATET to make changes to the way they operate to ensure compliance and to address residents’ amenity while continuing to attract people to the precinct.”