What can we do about pub across the road from our house.

[pubissues]

We live on a fairly quiet residential street. We live directly opposite a pub. It’s been there for years. We’ve lived here 10 years and never had a problem with it before. We have always heard some noise but nothing excessive. Landlords have always been respectful of their neighbours.

It changed hands about a year ago. New owner has invested loads in the pub and done it up. It’s become massively popular which is great for the new owner but rubbish for us. Obviously with the football it’s even busier.

They are now licensed to be open till 12.30 Friday and Saturday nights. They are slow at kicking people out and never seem to ask people to move on if they are standing outside talking (it is more like screaming because people are loud when they’ve been drinking!) It’s often after 1.30am before it quietens down. They have put 4 portaloos outside the pub, directly in front of our lounge windows. It’s still not enough toilets so there are people constantly leaving the pub, going down the road slightly and pissing in the hedges. Last night they were coming into ours and the neighbours drive and pissing on our drive. People congregate out the front of the pub all night long and are never asked to go back inside. They seem to allow people to leave carrying their glasses and glass bottles. Which are then dropped and smashed all the way along the road. The pub only has a couple of parking spaces out the front. There is a big car park about 5 mins walk away which is free in the evening. But people park all the way along our road including blocking drives so we can’t get our cars out.

we bought a house opposite a pub, we don’t expect silence. But this is ridiculous. The new manger actually went round to us and all the neighbours this week to apologise as there had been complaints (not from me.) I told him my issues and he said he would try to improve things, but I’m not seeing any evidence of this. What can we do? I don’t want to mess up someone’s business but this is getting out of hand and it’s getting worse not better. I’m going to go and speak to the manager today. But if nothing changes who do we go to? Is it the license people at the council, or is it a noise complaint? Can we raise the parking and littering with anyone? I really don’t want to start making official complaints but I don’t know what else to do at the moment.

Posters saying this is within the bounds of normal must have very low standards. Perhaps they enjoy lobbing a few pint glasses around and pissing in people’s gardens themselves.

You sound entirely reasonable to me OP. If the manager / staff are leaving at the end of the shift and they’re not picking up the pubs glasses and pitchers etc then what kind of slobby place are they running inside?. It’s a health and safety risk… our local pub is opposite a green and you’re allowed to take drinks out in plastic glasses only. A residents falling on that is a risk so they are being negligent right there.
The portaloos…. I’d look up what the regulations are in relation to that. Are they on the road ?? ( public highway ).

Did you know it’s an offence to knowingly sell alcohol to a person who’s drunk. ?? It’s a tricky one to prove but if you have a lot of intoxicated behaviour beyond the pub then add it to the list. It’s also an offence to piss in public and people 100% get arrested for that. As they should. Have a look at the licensing act and see what else is in there. Your local police will have someone whose job it is to monitor all this and may need to do a visit if the residents complain. Good luck.

edited for spelling

That's a good plan. We have a village pub which was quiet but now has new landlords and is really busy. Luckily we live far enough away not to be bothered, but my poor neighbours nearby spend a lot of time with black bin bags picking up glass around their verges the morning after the night before, and this in a 'naice' village. Busy pub, fine. Glass chucked around, inconsiderate parking and antisocial behaviour (pissing in the street? Surely indecent exposure) not so fine.

It’s not remotely the same though. Op doesn’t mind a bit of noise and expects noise living next to a pub, what she doesn’t expect is all the antisocial behaviour that comes along with it. Would you find it acceptable if you lived near a church and after the bell ringers had finished they took a detour through your garden and had a piss in it?

Firstly complain NOW it may well be less worse when the World Cup is over but what about next weeks/years sporting event

Secondly just remember

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger

is your friend

People saying ‘you live near a pub get over it’ are missing the point. There are licensing and planning laws so people and business can live in harmony. The pub has broken these. The owner chose a pub near housing. He has to consider the neighbours too.

Round here there was a similar problem and complaints to the council mean that the venue is now very worried about its future licence and is working hard to clean the act up

I went to a talk given by someone who had been a signalling technician at Bristol.

In those days Temple Meads station was controlled by two power boxes on at each end of the station.

He worked at the box at the London end of the station, and a lot of loco crews - steam in those says used to go behind the box for a quick p**s

He buried a metal plate in the ballast connected to the 80V DC supply used for the signals and that soon stopped them!

perhaps you can rig something similar?

Ha, had the last 14 years of this, live near 3 pubs, really near. I could throw a stone and hit them. It has improved massively though as the worst pub landlord lost his license during covid for breaking all the rules. Thank god.

First of all, is 12.30am license the neighbours have missed the boat. By law he had to advertise a new license or a change in license and the neighbours should have got together and put in representations, then go physically to the license meeting. If nobody or enough people go, the applicant is pretty much given what he wants at the meeting. This covers everything, opening times, music, booze served outside, everything. You also need to keep an eye on local gov website because he may just apply to open later and neighbours need to get together on that to stop it.

So that leaves you to go to E.Health, it's all you have. They will make the right noises, ask you to keep a noise diary, perhaps get a noise app and then pretty much do nothing with it. Councils are incredibly lazy. I've never experienced so much lack of competence as I have with ours.

So, you're left with a long slog but even on your own it won't work. You need the help with neighbours. All of you, complain to E.Health and local licensing dept, take videos with your phone, send them over and while you are at it, also complain to the police. They are the only other body who get to have a say on pub license being granted. Don't think you're wasting your time because they keep a record of it, this record builds a picture.

Any fights and I mean any, phone 999. The police told us all (big neighbourhood meeting) and they said to do this. Because it again keeps a record. No police licensing dept are going to do anything if they are not made aware.

Good luck! It's grim. Nobody minds living near a pub, but living within the Wild West gets very dull, quick.

I am sympathetic to the pub but not to the people urinating on your property. I'd invest in motion activated floodlights and CCTV and a gate!

Oh, and one Sunday night I asked a chap not to pee againt my door, so he smashed it off its hinges.
Horrible people, drunks!

Dial 999 when they start pissing in the road/gardens?

You have to report to the Council. You have the ludicrous situation of the Council granting a licence for someone to be open until 12.30. Then you have another part of the Council who will check into the problems you are all encountering.

I have experienced this. A pub with a live bar allowed to be open until 6am. Mental. I got little sleep. I had to get the Council who had approved the stupid licence to come out and listen to the din that came out of the bar.
Utter waste of taxpayers money. Brains gone to jelly. If they had any sense in the first place they would not have given the licence in such a residential area until 6am in the first place. And not have had to pay another person in the same organisation to put a stop to it.

Do contact the Council.
Sadly some people cannot manage drinking for that amount of time and remain socially acceptable. They just get drunk. And almost believe they are entitled to do whatever they want. Basically, they and the pub do not have any consequences. The pub as you say have done nicely out of it. Perhaps the pub can have an anti social fine. That way they would not continue to serve people. Which is how it used to be decades ago.

Contact the council, they may be in breach of their licence.

Exactly. And you know what? This is what licensing actually is. The business is allowed to sell alcohol etc within the hours apecified. But with conditions. And if those conditions are not met (ef selling to under age customers, not closing at the specified time etc etc that licence is withdrawn. A licence is a contract between the business and the community (represented by the council). And if the terms are breached, that contract will be void. (So long as the community in the form of the council has the guts to enforce it)

Could you ask them to have someone on the door at the weekends. That would help with the noise as they can control the people outside

The pissing and the glass is really unacceptable. If business is booming so much that they need portaloos I would hope they consider door staff, even just during football games or on weekends. Noise is annoying but the two other things are a health and safety hazard. It was nice of the manager to apologise, it sounds like they might be reasonable, but it doesn’t sound like enough is being done

That sounds like a balanced and sensible way of approaching it, OP

If it's the World Cup mainly causing this it'll be over before much gets done, but there's a risk the landlord might want to keep the portaloos to attract even more crowds over thhe summer and it's best to be prepared

It was nice of the manager to apologise, it sounds like they might be reasonable

Edited to add this is possible, @Kim5678, but much more likely that he's only bothered about his licence and profits. Encouraging crowds like this was unlikely to end well in a residential area, and so it's proving

You bought property near a pub

All pubs were legally allowed to stay open later for the World Cup football. It has been on the news about the temporary opening times.

Yes, I would wait until the World Cup finishes and then complain if it is still bad.

Give them no more days. Report to the licensing board on Monday, they’re not responsible enough to hold a license.

Absolutely about opening time. I must have missed the bit on the news where they announced people are allowed to urinate on peoples property though and block driveways, and chuck glass all over the street. Can you send me a link to the story where that was announced please?

Well you can.

You shouldn't need to plan for portaloos outside your windows. Put them in the pub yard

Bad parking, report.

Noise nuisance, report.

Having grown up in a pub and had to deal with these issues, I suggest

1. Wait until the world cup is over
2. Keep a diary from the following weekend of all the issues
3. Take videos and record noise issues and times.
4. The portaloos will have needed planning permission if they are in the street or on the pavement. Check with the council planning team how soon they will be removed. My guess is after the World Cup.
5. Assemble eight weeks evidence and then take it to the council.

Some good advice. I’d speak to the manager & insist that they send staff to collect the broken glass & debris as part of their pub prep. I’d also set up a motion activated sprinkler aimed at wherever people are toileting & speak to police as urinating in a public place is a Public Order offence.

This. In fact I would mobilise the whole street to complain simultaneously so they can't ignore it. Ditto contacting your MP and local councillor.