Bridport bar's bid for 4am Holloween extension rejected by councillors
Neon in East Street have had their application turned down over concerns about noise disturbance
An application for extra hours for a Bridport bar at Halloween has been turned down.
Neon, in East Street, had asked for a 2am to 4am extension, but after hearing of noise complaints Dorset Council’s councillors rejected the application.
“The sub-committee considered that there was a high risk that people living in the neighbouring properties would be subject to noise nuisance, particularly from customers using the garden area, into the very early hours of Sunday morning,” said the committee conclusion.
The decision is now open to appeal.
The premises is currently being investigated by Dorset Council’s environmental health team after complaints about noise during the summer.
Mike Long, who manages the bar, says he remains willing to work with the authorities to reduce the disturbance to neighbours, including closing the garden area earlier, but does not accept that all the noise in the area comes from his customers.
Mr Long said there had been complaints about noise from the bar’s garden and from a band earlier in the year which refused to turn their sound system down. He said they would not be booked again.
Dorset Police have asked Mr Long to consider changes to the overall premises license which, they say, would be a better solution than the bar having to continually ask for temporary orders for longer opening throughout the year.
Earlier this year Mr Long won an extended hours application for the late August bank holiday weekend despite police concerns.
Sgt Gareth Gosling said that during that evening there had been a report that a woman had assaulted door staff and later that another woman had been found unconscious in the toilets and had been taken to hospital over concerns that her drink had been spiked, although this had not been substantiated.
Mr Long maintains that some of the summer noise complaints could not relate to Neon as the business was not open on some of the evenings residents claim they heard noise from it.
He said there had been complaints from the Bull Hotel as well as from residential properties which back onto Neon.
“We are here to work with whoever we need to, just give us advice on what you would like us to do,” said Mr Long…”We are in town, but we’re not responsible for everything in the town.”
The bar has the capacity for 130 people, including staff and performers inside, with an unlimited capacity in the outside areas although Mr Long said he tries to keep the numbers at 100 inside and 30 outside.
Panel members were told that there were 9 noise complaints to Dorset Council environmental health relating to Neon between August and September last year and five this year between July and August, some of which are now the subject of an official investigation which has since led to noise monitoring equipment being installed in the area.