Manbar fights angry neighbour noise complaint
London’s Manbar is fighting a battle with Westminster council after repeated complaints by a single resident of a flat two floors above it. The bar will be forced to close if it loses the case with the council in court, which is scheduled for early in April.
The resident’s complaints led to a licensing review last summer in which Westminster Council banned any music from being played until improvements were made. Extensive works were carried out, which were successful that council officials could not detect any noise in the complainant’s flat when they returned. They even turned off the resident’s fridge and laptop in an attempt to hear noise.
The improvements included agreeing a sound level with the council, and installing a sound limiter to which only an audio expert has access. Owner Chris Amos told So So Gay that despite this, when the council returned recently, they decided to start court proceedings.
Andrew Ralph, a noise and licensing manager at Westminster City Council, told So So Gay: ‘Anyone who has suffered a noise nuisance will know what an impact it can have on quality of life and Westminster City Council’s environmental health team takes any complaint about noise very seriously. It is certainly true that, after measures had been taken to limit noise at Manbar, our officers tested levels and found them to be acceptable.
‘However, after we were contacted again, our officers returned to find that the noise levels were far higher and amounted to a statutory nuisance. That is not acceptable.’
Amos is seeking support both from the gay scene and the general public to help fight off the council.
I live near Manbar and though not affected i know the Westminster Noise Dept’s habits well. In my experience the West. Noise Team WNT act reasonably on first approach. They will give warning and ask the complainers and offending party to sort out things between them. If further complaints are made noise testing equipment is placed onsite for a length of time. Recommendations are then set out byt WNT to the offenders based on the results the equipment capture. It can take a good number of months to get this far in a Noise Complaint and the situation is generally fair, reasonable encourages discussion between the parties involved and evidence based on scientifically acquired measurements .
At this point if the recommendations made by WNT to the offenders fail to be implemented effectively within the time limit given then WNT get heavy and suffer fools gladly and refer the issue to the Courts. It sounds to me like Manbar have underestimated the consequences of not complying with WNT directives or the recommendations made have been implemented but have no effect on noise levels. To be fair it is rare that WNT will offer recommendations that are not effective so it appears that Manbar have been negligent. If so that is risky because the courts may well apply sterner justice than Westminster Council and this may see strict noise controls placed on their license or even a revocation of their license. Unfortunatly it may be difficult for the ‘gay community’ to support Manbar in a trial as the judge will consider alone the ability of the license holder to respect the local bylaws and council directives of which the WNT’s are legally enforceable. In the West End bars come and go with great frequency and ManBar will not qualify for special treatment. The worst result is that the property unit itself has it’s licence permissions revoked so not only does the current holder of the leasehold have their right to play music revoked but so to do all subsequent new leasehold owners of the property. In many respects Manbar need to get their act together – you cant mess about with Westminster Council over such matters or you just get moved on.