Brentwood pie and mash shop wants to host live music in bid to stay afloat
The owner says the business is not currently viable - and he wants to put on entertainment in the evenings
Last updated 18th Aug 2022
A pie and mash shop in Brentwood high street said it will follow a noise management plan as part of a new licence that would see it play live and recorded music as late as 12.45am.
Sainsy’s Pie Shop has accepted one of the conditions that noise will be inaudible to neighbours living nearby– but Brentwood Borough Council’s environmental health officer said this condition may not be enforced at all.
Owner Daniel Sains has said his business is not financially viable at this time and wants to turn the premises into a bar in the evening.
But Brentwood Borough Council’s Environmental Health (Noise Pollution) Team Manager David Carter worried it needed measures to control noise breakout from the premises.
There are people living in in the vicinity of the premises, above other premises and at the rear and planning permission has been sought for additional residential accommodation in the area.
He said the addition of another late-night premises in this part of the high street – the Slug and Lettuce, The Merchant, The Swan and Vince are all close by – is likely to increase the number of customers in the High Street late at night.
Mr Carter told the licensing committee on August 17: “We haven’t defined which premises the nearest premises is and at the moment we have a fair guess but I don’t know which one is the nearest residential premises.
“As far as the inaudibility is concerned that has been taken and challenged for other licenced premises as being too severe a test.
“Essentially the licence objectives is prevention of public nuisance and that is generally taken to be as something that most members of the public would be disturbed by.
“It is quite an amount to do that. Where as inaudibility is a completely separate thing and whether you can hear it doesn’t mean it is causing a public nuisance. But the applicant has accepted that from the police.
“I don’t know where we go with that – whether we just leave that as a condition that they have accepted and we decide whether we would or not enforce it.”
Sainsy’s has been allowed permission to sell alcohol for consumption on and off the premises and to play live music and recorded music between 10am to midnight Monday to Thursday and on Fridays and Saturdays between 10am to 0045 the following morning. It can open on Sundays between 10am to 11pm.
Mr Carter added: “We would take that under advice on whether it is reasonable to enforce that if you can just hear it, which I would suggest is not reasonable to do.
“But if it is causing a problem to someone and they are complaining about it then we ought to be looking at whether we can take other enforcement or review the licence and maybe even change that condition as a review of the licence.”