Aux Nightclub Closes Suddenly – Police Investigation Underway

Published on: 1 May, 2024
Updated on: 3 May, 2024

AUX Nightclub

By Martin Giles

The Aux nightclub in Onslow Street was closed down suddenly last Friday (April 26) and repossessed by the owner Michel Harper, who said today (May 1) that his company had “exercised forfeiture”.

There is an uncorroborated claim that the closure occurred hours before the club was due to present a “headline act” on Friday night, with hundreds of tickets sold and that the closure was linked with police action.

The nightclub’s website shows no events listed beyond April 1st. Calls to the club’s telephone number are answered by a recorded message saying “you have dialled an incorrect number”.

Police cars were seen parked at the back of the venue yesterday (Tuesday, April 30) and a spokesperson for Surrey police said that while the police were not responsible for any closure order, a section 18 search was conducted at the nightclub on Saturday, April 20 following the arrest of a 32-year-old man from Guildford on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. He was subsequently released on police bail.

Section 18 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 allows a constable to enter and search any premises occupied or controlled by a person who is under arrest for certain offences, if the officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is evidence on the premises relating to the offence.

The police investigation “is ongoing”.

Last June, the nightclub, the largest of its type in Surrey, with a 1,500 capacity and then called “The Casino”, announced it would close its doors for the last time in the following July but it later reopened as Aux without explanation. Both the nightclub owner at the time, Ian Forward, and the building’s owner, Michel Harper, declined to comment.