Kompass Klub is a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in the city of

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

that focuses primarily on the music genres

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

. The club, which originally started as a pop-up project, moved into an old

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

in an

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

south of the city center in 2016. The club disposes of three rooms with a combined capacity of 1,500 people. In November 2018, Kompass Klub was chosen as the best Belgian nightclub at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards. In December 2020, Kompass Klub announced its closure at the current location due to the demolition of the old warehouse building. In November 2021, Kompass Klub announced its temporary reopening in the former Vynckier factory.

Drug issues

In March 2019, the mayor of Ghent

Mathias De Clercq Mathias Toon Cecil Willy De Clercq, Jonkheer, esq. (born 26 December 1981, Ghent) is a Belgians, Belgian politician. He is a member of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, Flemish liberal party. At the moment he is the List of mayors of Ghen ...

(

Open VLD french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = Pa ...

) ordered the immediate closure of Kompass Klub for a period of four months. The decision of the mayor was prompted by recurrent issues with illegal drug use that tainted the nightclub, with one of the nightclub's employees dying of a

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

two months earlier. The closure order sparked protests, and a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

against the mayor's decision collected more than 10,000 signatures. The nightclub's management for its part appealed the mandated closure at the Belgian

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

. The Council decided against the mayor and suspended the mandated closure. It considered that mandating the closure of an establishment because of issues involving illegal drugs was justified in itself, but found that the mayor had insufficiently motivated the necessity to close the nightclub to combat the drug issues.

References

{{Reflist Culture of Ghent Nightclubs in Belgium Electronic dance music venues

Drug issues

See also

References