The Labyrinth on Thames festival will return to the Old Royal Naval College for eight events next year, promising a “legendary English artist” on the line-up, after Greenwich councillors approved its application for a licence.

Six nights of concerts were held this August with the Grammy-winning DJ Black Coffee and the Australian band Empire of the Sun among the headliners. 

Labyrinth originally applied to increase the number of concerts from six to nine, but offered to limit that number to eight for next year to appease concerns of nearby residents. It plans to hold nine concerts from 2027 onwards.  It applied to host shows for up to 10,000 people, but that exact numbers will be decided nearer the time.

The decision, which was announced on Monday, followed a licensing sub-committee hearing last Wednesday.

Matthew Phipps, a lawyer representing Labyrinth, told councillors that this year’s festival had been an  “overwhelming success”, pointing out that only four residents had objected to the new licence, with no complaints from council departments.

He said: “What we do say unashamedly is that the overwhelming feedback from all stakeholders was that the 2025 event was something very special, both in terms of cultural value but also in terms of its delivery and execution and the promotion of the licensing objectives. I do appreciate there are a handful of objectors but the overwhelming feedback has all been positive.

“With an event of this size and significance, one might have thought if there was anything awry you would have had more saying so.”

Dave Sulllivan, a Labour councillor on the committee and an east Greenwich resident, said he was “pleasantly surprised by the relatively small number of objectors”, but asked: “Are we looking at roughly 30 hours of solid electro beat, or are we looking at a much more varied event?”

Nicholas Castleman, a co-founder of Labyrinth, said his team were planning a more diverse line-up for future years, adding that a “legendary English artist who is a live band show” had been secured for next year.

“We do appreciate that nine days straight of dance music might be a bit excessive, and that is taken into account with our programming decisions,” he said. Phipps emphasised that next year would be restricted to eight days to “engage with local residents”. 

The committee – Labour councillors Sullivan, David Gardner and Jit Ranhabat – noted that most of the complaints revolved around the noise of bass emanating from the Old Royal Naval College when the concerts were taking place.

The applicant’s noise expert, Chris Hurst, said that this year’s noise levels were “well below” the public nuisance threshold, and that organisers had “worked hard with the sound system providers on how best to contain low frequency”.

He added: “We can’t eliminate that problem, but what we can do is assess it, validate it and then monitor it, and then we work closely with the sound system engineers. We are measuring permanently throughout the day, and we’ve got constant feedback to those engineers. We will respond to any complaints.”

Daniel Bygrave, of the council’s community safety team, said there had been 12 complaints about this year’s events, including two from residents across the Thames on the Isle of Dogs. He added that the complaints mainly revolved around people not being made aware of the events taking place rather than the noise “being excessively bad”. 

Bygrave said that Labyrinth had agreed to more stringent conditions in its new licence application, many of them revolving around noise.

It was “quite difficult for us to put a measurement on bass levels”, Bygrave said,  but he added the council had imposed the condition of a qualified sound manager and sound engineer being onsite that could tweak noise levels if needed. 

Cameron Blackshaw is the Local Democracy Reporter for Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley. The Greenwich Wire is a partner in the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which is a BBC-funded initiative to ensure councils are covered properly in local media.

📩 Follow The Greenwich Wire on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn or Threads. You can also sign up for WhatsApp alerts – or subscribe to our emails through the blue box above.