Noise from local pub

Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
23,201
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
A local pub has recently got a new landlord who seems to have decided on putting in live music. Normally I’d be ok with this on the basis that the venue is set up for the purpose. However I’m not sure if they’re playing the music outside or just opening all the doors/windows to avoid heat issues.

Either way it seems to be excessively loud to me.

Here’s a link to a video I took.

https://youtu.be/sxHetY7gNwk

From where I’m stood. There are lots of trees which you’d expect to block the sound. Then an industrial unit. Then some waste land and then the back of the pub. In total I’d say around 300m

Standing outside my front door and you can hear the music pretty clearly. In fact even inside my front room you can hear it (albeit less clearly) which means turning the tv up quite a lot louder than normal.

I’m conscious that the plan is to make this a regular thing. They had an Oasis tribute on good Friday which was equally loud but I ignored that as assumed it was a one off bank holiday event.

The local council page seems to suggest they have no law to control this which seems a bit daft to me as I’m assuming they issue the license.

At the risk of sounding like a killjoy. Are the council likely to listen to a single person or is a local petition type thing needed? Whilst it’s an annoyance for me, I can stick headphones on and ignore it. However my wife’s disabled and suffers from chronic fatigue which as the name suggests makes her incredibly tired a lot of the time and the noise has really disturbed her tonight.

I’m not a confrontational man and whilst my plan is to go tomorrow and show them the above video to try and help them realise how much the noise carries I’m not sure what to try and do if they tell me to bugger off. Obviously I have no rights to force them to stop.
 
Last edited:
You've got the right idea to go there and plead your case (in a bumble and calm manner ;)) . I would definitely mention the last bit about your wife. What time do they play until?
 
Amazed your council wont do anything about it.

My experience of a similar situation albeit with a douchbag who decided that the house he rents made a perfect dj venue playing atrocious music till 2 am at a weekend with live pa and lots of braaaaping soon ended with an app provided by the council to record and log the times etc followed by a visit and a warning to stop or attend court

Bearing i mind this was 2 streets away it was clearly heard in my livingroom and bedrooms.

Suggest contacting them and complaining
 
Can you tell us which council it is? I'm pretty sure they are somewhat duty bound to investigate noise complaints, both domestic and industrial, as well as whatever category live venues come under. To offer them a blank slate would be madness. I understand that there was a bit of a fuss made in recent years about new developments being built near existing venues, and the venues "won" the right to continue in so much as the complaints were pushed on to the housing developer rather than the venues, but I don't believe this applies in your case.
 
Does the venue need a license for live music?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/entertainment-licensing-changes-under-the-live-music-act

Para 1 and 2 said:
In particular a licence may be required by:

anyone that provides any entertainment between 11PM and 8AM;
anyone that provides amplified live or recorded music to an audience of more than 500 people;
anyone that provides recorded music to an audience on premises not licensed for the sale or supply of alcohol;
anyone that puts on a performance of a play or a dance to an audience of more than 500 people, or an indoor sporting event to more than 1,000 spectators
anyone that puts on boxing or wrestling
anyone that screens a film to an audience
2. Do I need a licence for music entertainment?
Whether a licence is needed for music entertainment will depend on the circumstances. A licence is not required to stage a performance of live music, or the playing of recorded music if:

it takes place between 8AM and 11PM; and
it takes place at an alcohol on-licensed premises; and
the audience is no more than 500 people

I'd think a pub would almost certainly be sticking to those guidelines, however I don't believe it means they're immune to noise complaints.
 
Before complain about them speak to them? (serious bit)

Tell them about your war trauma and your ak47 collection.. Your love of fight club and film quotes... When you absolutely positively gotta kill every ************ in the room except no substitute...
 
Regarding the council powers available

http://www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=70
Pubs and clubs
Local councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have powers to deal with complaints about excessive noise from pubs and clubs, for example noise caused by amplified music or customers’ unruly behaviour. If the noise is linked to anti-social behaviour such as disorderly or violent conduct, the police can get involved (read the police powers section on the FAQs page). In Scotland, councils regulate noise from pubs and clubs by imposing and enforcing planning and licensing conditions. Some councils may also have made by-laws to control this type of noise: ask your local council about this.
 
I used to live 100 feet from a pub that had live music - we didn't complain but others did - council basically said they'd only get involved if it was after 11pm or continuously every day - if it was just a few hours in the afternoon/evening at the weekend, etc. they wouldn't get involved and personally I don't really see that as unreasonable unless the volume level was such it overpowered everything else.
 
I used to live 100 feet from a pub that had live music - we didn't complain but others did - council basically said they'd only get involved if it was after 11pm or continuously every day - if it was just a few hours in the afternoon/evening at the weekend, etc. they wouldn't get involved and personally I don't really see that as unreasonable unless the volume level was such it overpowered everything else.

I'd be inclined to agree and the last time they had music on, the stated it'd only be on bank holidays which was ok. However Friday night it was so loud we could actually hear it over our TV which seems a bit ridiculous. I think when the weather is decent they must either set up outside or have all the doors/windows open for ventilation which hugely affects how far the sound carries.

It's trying to battle that fine line between sounding like a killjoy and getting some peace!
 
Back
Top Bottom