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.

I agree with all the comments about reporting to the council about their operating licenses etc.

You can also try to make your gardens unappealing by rigging motion censored lights & sprinklers. The pub goers want quiet dark areas for a wee so motion lights & sprinklers to deter them might help. As well as motion sensored pre-recordered dog bark contraptions you can buy off the Internet.

Can you install gates to secure your drive & garden? As well as cameras/ring doorbells with a 'smile, you're on camera' sign! There are certain breeds of hedges which are very smelly and/or prickly you can plant.

Move.

Of course she can. If the noise and behaviour is excessive it’s grounds for complaint to the Director of the Office of the Pubs Code Adjudicator in the first instance.

Pub landlords have a legal responsibility to their neighbours to stay within the conditions of the UK Licensing Act 2023, part of which is to manage noise levels associated with the licensed premises. Landlords also have a duty to ensure customers don’t cause disturbance when entering, leaving, or congregating outside the premises. License conditions cover closing times for outdoor seating and restriction of alcohol consumption in public, up to and including cleaning up litter dropped outside their premises.

https://www.pubscodeadjudicator.org.uk/

We live on the same road as a pub too. Lived her for 40 years with no issues at all then had a landlord move in who favoured loud discos until 12am at weekends (no patrons in the pub just him dancing?!) the environmental health team at the council were great, they monitored noise changed the licensing hours and he’s finally moving on. Ignore the people saying you chose to live near a pub, pubs in residential areas must be respectful of their neighbours and issues must be addressed or they’ll loose their licence. Take video evidence of the issues and contact the council right away. None of this is acceptable.

We used to live across the road from a pub. It closed at 11pm and sometimes was very noisy with taxi drivers beeping the horns and people leaving at that time. But they were there first, so we accepted it.

Most of the rest of the time they were fine, then they started live music events. They'd have the doors wide open, go on after hours (sometimes after midnight), both were against their licence terms.

Then they applied for a licence to be open until 1am, except for "12 times a year, plus any sporting events, bank holidays and various other exceptions" then it was 4am.

I went to the planning meeting as opposition. I went with a video of the doors being opened during live music, timing of the live music, and the number of taxi horns heard between 10:30pm and 11:30pm for a few weekends. Typical numbers were between 6 and 12.

They didn't get granted the licence.

However the landlord came round to see me and was very apologetic. He promised me that he would stand outside at closing time. He wrote emails to the taxi companies asking them not to beep their horn, and he gave me his mobile so I could message if the doors were left open, or if it was continuing after hours.

All of these things solved it immediately.

He was absolutely brilliant and we rarely heard much from them again. In fact when they reapplied to have the licence changed, I supported them on the basis that they had worked very hard and it now was very little of an issue.

Start gathering evidence in case it doesn’t improve and document everything. I’d set up cctv if you haven’t already.
if your neighbours are similarly bothered then working as a group will help. Petitions or group letters used to be far more effective when I worked for the council. I’d assume they still are.
The council are obliged to deal with the noise if it constitutes a statutory noise nuisance. It’s not optional for them.
Getting councillors invovled is probably a good idea.
Its not just the noise and antisocial behaviour this woll also massively effect the value of your house and how easy it is to sell. Many people wouldn’t even consider it - I wouldn’t,

They surely cannot have been given permission for the portaloos?!?!

So a normal night out to the pub for you and your friends/family would include urinating in the street or someone's driveway? Or parking your car to block a neighbouring residents drive? Or smashing bottles/glasses in the street?

Thats the behaviour the op is complaining about, not just a bit of noise.

And it certainly isn't normal pub behaviour for me or the people I associate with!

I work in a public library. Plenty of anti-social behaviour, pissing (and other bodily fluids) in the vicinity. I wouldn't want to live next to it.

YANBU, this is not acceptable behaviour just because you live opposite a pub. We have 2 pubs in our small town and people don't behave like this , so you must unfortunately live in a rough area if people think this is acceptable behaviour.

Give them a chance to address it, tell them about security doing nothing while being on their phones, take photos if necessary. Keep a record of the evidence and keep presenting it to the LL.

Call the police if it continues. They will see it as antisocial behaviour and deal with it accordingly.

Urgh that’s disgusting, OP. I hope things get better for you soon. Drunk football fans near you, plus urinating on your actual drive?! 🤢

OP is perfectly entitled to complain if the pub is breaching the terms of its licence, and she is equally entitled to ask for further restrictions to be put on the licence to stop the pub being such a bad neighbour. I would also want to check out planning permission for the portaloos.

How convenient.

Only true in so far as the pub needs to stick to the conditions of the licence, which include behaviour of punters on and off the premises.

Complain to the council licencing authority.

Are you the pub landlord 🤣

Wait until the World Cup is over and the portaloos are hopefully gone

then get the house on the market

I've lived diagonally opposite a pub for years. It's in the middle of a large residential area and is only used by local people. Apart from everyone pouring onto the street to gustily sing Auld Lang Syne on New Year I would barely know the pub is there.

It's a lovely community resource and the landlords have always maintained that ethos. They hold pub quizzes, host community groups, support local charities and help with catering for wakes and other family events.

Not all pubs are the same . . .

You absolutely can complain if they are not running the pub properly and not adhering to the 4 licensing objectives.

I've been running pubs for 30yrs and it sounds like this manager is either inexperienced, ineffectual, or doesn't give a shit.

The council can add conditions to their licence, for example no drinks allowed outside, or no people allowed outside after a certain time, ie 9pm.

I would maybe speak to the manager again and say if he doesn't make some impactful changes soon you will be petitioning to the council for some of these conditions to be put on their licence.

Just because the pub was there first, it doesn't mean they get to do whatever they want.

Is there a community fb page? You should go & knock (or message through the letter box) on the door of the people who could be negatively impacted in your street & ask if they are interested in a group complaint, (to give it weight)
If you are contacting the police/council/licencing folk/MP, get organised with all the supporters first.
(In my country there are laws about noise after 1am etc. Although to be honest the Police wouldn't get excited about it over the period of big Sports events, but would go & close the establishment & tell people to go home after a certain time.

I would find out what your rights are and get your neighbours on board. It sounds to me like the publican is well aware of you and so that suggests you might have more power than you currently feel you do to lodge complaints/make life a bit more difficult. The publican should, at the very least, serve beer in plastic rather than glass? He should be shutting up/last orders in line with his licensing hours to name a couple of things.

You think the portaloos thing is acceptable? And piss on the drive? People I know manage to go to the pub without pissing everywhere and screaming. You must know some awful people.

OP, I’ve not read the full thread so don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it, but l’d try to work this out with the landlord if you can. If you escalate and the relevant authorities get involved you would have to declare it if you decided to sell your home.

The manager only came around this week - to apologise in person - which is really decent. It’s hot weather and the World Cup too. Give him some time - it won’t change overnight but he’s aware, he’s acknowledging the issue and he’s said he’s trying

Is it a free house or a tenancy, or a managed house? If either of the latter, contact the brewery that owns or manages the business.
Also, contact the council and ask to see the licence. It may well include an obligation on the part of the licensee to ensure customers leave quietly and on time. As I understand it, each licence is written specifically for that pub. It's not like a driving licence, it's bespoke. The owner/tenant/manager may well be in breach of the licence's obligations.

They didn't get granted the licence
However the landlord came round to see me and was very apologetic. He promised me that he would stand outside at closing time. He wrote emails to the taxi companies asking them not to beep their horn, and he gave me his mobile so I could message if the doors were left open, or if it was continuing after hours

I'm genuinely pleased it worked out for you, @MargaretThursday, but can't help wondering if he'd have been quite so keen to sort the issues if the licence had been granted the first time

After all the measures he's now taking could have been taken in the first place, and he may only be doing it now because he knows there'll be effective local opposition if he doesn't, and his new licence could be forfeit