The planning meeting had been called to finally decide if planning permission would be approved for a 22 story block of luxury flats to be built close to Ministry's Elephant & Castle headquarters.

Chatting about the property development's implications to BBC London Radio station 94.9 beforehand, Ministry Chief Executive Lohan Presencer said that Ministry's 200 employees would lose their jobs as new residents moved in and objected to the nightclub's noise.

"We have a very busy smoking area outside our club where there are probably a couple of hundred people at any one time chatting and mingling," he pointed out.

"We also have queuing from about 10.30 in the evening till 2 o'clock in the morning. People start to leave the club from 4 or 5 in the morning, so there is a huge amount of noise ... and that noise can peak to significant levels."

"If I was paying upwards of half a million pounds for a 2-bed apartment, I'd expect it to be quiet outside – wouldn't you?" the Ministry boss added.

Days earlier, the club also threatened to sue the local council if the club is forced to close and predicted liabilities from the demise of Ministry's global interests 'would amount to many tens of millions of pounds'.