St Paul's Cathedral has announced a four-year collaboration with Fabric nightclub that will bring DJs into the capital's most celebrated pews, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. For Fabric — the Farringdon club founded in 1999 that survived a threatened permanent closure in 2016 after a licensing battle and public campaign — the partnership marks a striking step into the establishment's cultural heart.

The four-year project has provoked outrage among groups including traditionalist Christians and historic preservation societies. Descendants of Lord Nelson called it "an insult" to his memory, "deeply depressing" and "an act of self-harm," while Queen Elizabeth II's former chaplain described it as "a betrayal of all the faithful Christian people who said their prayers there."

But wasn't St Paul's always intended for music? Wren's domed ceiling was designed specifically for its resonant qualities, and what is so different about electronic music compared with the church organ? Isn't it all music?

St Paul's Cathedral is the perfect setting

Crucially, the backlash against a collaboration with a London nightclub exposes the stigma and snobbery that surrounds electronic music and club culture. DJs are composers like any other. They make and play music, and there is no reasonable argument that dance music is any less valid than classical music.

Club culture has been unfairly branded a pursuit of hedonists who create a mess that must be tidied up later. That characterisation is reductive and unfair. In truth, club music's origins lie in connection and bringing people together, much like church music. Despite the images perpetuated by the tabloids, anyone who attends raves or club nights will say the crowds are inclusive and friendly. You are far more likely to get into a fight in All Bar One than at an event focused on electronic music.

The St Paul's events are also seated: no standing up or dancing. What could be more organised and respectful of the building's history than that? Shock, horror: people who enjoy club nights and electronic music are cultured enough to sit down and enjoy a gig (seated DJ shows are actually fairly common). Nor is it accurate to label electronic music a 'youthful' pursuit: collectives like Kraftwerk, who pioneered the genre in the late 1970s, are now senior citizens.

Destigmatising clubbing

Despite the tirade, it cannot be overstated that clubs contribute greatly to the UK economy. One report described London's nightlife as a £46bn asset. That weight has not stopped the sector shrinking: hundreds of UK nightclubs have closed over the past decade, hit by rising costs and changing habits, which makes partnerships with established institutions a rare growth avenue for club brands.

Nor is this an isolated problem. Insiders at one of London's biggest and most commercially successful clubs said they were banned from calling their club a club when seeking investment, because of how stigmatised the word has become. Instead, they had to call it a 'cultural venue' so that snobs would not judge them. In the music industry, this narrative has become all too common.

Some of the capital's most famous 'traditional' culture venues are staging similar events to great critical success. The Barbican has introduced club nights, as has the National Portrait Gallery, and Abbey Road Studios too. These are not religious venues, granted, but they are heritage cultural spaces associated with more traditional arts. DJs help bring in the money — and the clout.

St Paul's has long been progressive

The real question is whether these events curate a line-up that feels thoughtful rather than tokenistic. The Barbican's recent South Asian clubnight series was a properly curated programme of events, whereas the National Portrait Gallery's one-off night with drag queen and DJ Bimini felt a bit like placing a grassroots artist in an establishment art gallery for clout and hoping for the best.

In an interview with City AM last year, the dean of St Paul's explained how the cathedral is proudly adapting to modern audiences — and how dividing opinion is inevitable. The precedent for sacred spaces hosting contemporary work is well established elsewhere: cathedrals have long hosted light shows, film screenings and contemporary art installations, from Durham Lumiere to touring installations in cathedrals across England. Good on the City's proudest cultural venue (the winner of our Best Arts or Culture Award) for sticking to its guns.

We can't wait to dance in the venue — if only with our toes.