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.

Facing a similar issue @pubissues and it’s made so much worse by the hot weather because we either can’t sleep for the noise, or can’t sleep for the heat.

The hot weather is a huge factor because up to now the rain was fairly guaranteed to make eventually make an appearance and spoil the fun. This year the pub has changed its huge car park into an outdoor space with speakers. Last night it was absolutely buzzing with a live dj, shouting enthusiastically at intervals. Followed of course by the taxi drivers blaring their horns at each other in the wee hours.

I don’t think we’re going to have much alternative except to move. Twenty years ago, when we moved here, there were none of these problems and the pub was a net positive in the community. There’s also been a significant cultural shift in the last two decades. The concept of a late licence in a residential neighbourhood would have been eye widening then - that was the kind of thing you expected in the city centre, not in a sleepy suburb. Now any complaints are countered with a shrug and reference to the licensing hours. I don’t have a fight in me anyway - there’s just too many other fronts in my life right now, and this one is a losing battle.

What? I take it you would happily accept people pissing on your driveway and your street covered in smashed glass?

I bought a house next to the church and I love the church bells.

But if on a Sunday morning the vicar turned up and put 4 portaloos beside the lych gate, the choir started pissing on my drive, smashing communion wine glasses in the street and screaming hymns until 1.30am I might rightly take the hump.

Honestly, you sound pretty reasonable about most things.

Id be going back for a chat with the manager ASAP though and talking about the security people being on their phones and doing nothing.

It does sound like they’re aware of many concerns and are trying to do something, but the security people need a good kick up the bum before the next round of matches.

Reassess once the World Cup is over, but I’d probably also put up a nice floodlight out the front, with a movement sensor.

It’s a long shot, but I wonder if the landlord would be open to helping with costs for soundproofing your front windows too.

🤣

@DontrockthecaravanGeoffrey This genuinely made me howl - conjures up beautiful mental pictures - especially ‘screaming hymns until 1.30am’.

motion activated sprinklers to deter pissing.
and yes to reporting to council about unsocial behaviour and licence breaches.

what's with the porta loos? were they a condition of extended hours or increase in venue capacity?

Not actually true! See Sturges v Bridgman case law!

Portaloos are just here for football I think. It’s a small pub (inside capacity is about 60 according to website) with a massive garden. I had a chat with the manager. He told me they had 2000 people in last night. So the 2 loos inside and 4 portaloos out front aren’t doing the job. Hence pissing in the street! Manger wasn’t really bothered when I went round. Said what do we expect him to do when they have that many people in. I said it sounds like they are way overcapacity. He said he’s not allowed to turn people away. He said they only give plastic glasses out so glass must be from somewhere else. I said what about glass beer and wine bottles (which is where most of the glass came from.) He said they couldn’t not sell those and it’s not their job to stop people leaving with them. I showed him the photos of all the glasses with the pub logo on, he said nothing. He told me they’d kicked people out for pissing in the pub hedges because it’s disgusting. I said why is it for them to use our hedge. No answer. Asked what the point of security is if they do nothing, he said it isn’t him who organises security. Wouldn’t give me the owners contact info. So, based on that, I’m contacting council tomorrow.

2000? Is that a typo @pubissues ?

We had this with a local pub. Nearby residents reported them, and they were obliged to make changes or lose their licence. They made the changes.

That’s what he told me. No idea if it’s true but I wouldn’t be surprised. They have a massive garden with a massive screen they are showing football on.

But this is our issue, we bought a house opposite a small local pub, now it has hundreds if not thousands of people going without the infrastructure to support it. They have 4 cubicle loos inside and 6 parking spaces out the front. Hence people parking all the way along both sides of the road and apparently thinking it’s fine to piss in the street.

Sorry this was meant to quote the person asking if 2000 people was a typo

Absolutely impossible they had 2000 prople in pub and big garden and didn't break any safety ot livensing rules.

As I said, I have no way of knowing if that is correct but that is what the manager told me. A friend of my DS works there, they said they thought there was over 1000 people in. I have no idea what the true number is but it’s too many!

I do think you need to bide your time. Raise the issue o ld the portaloos and the glass outside. Beyond that, declutter your home, get it ready for sale and get it on the market once the weather has turned for autumn.

They will mean they had that many in over the course of the night. Not all at the same time some people will meet up just have one drink and move onto other pubs. Others might stay all night. They won't care as long as the money is rolling in.

Most pubs i have been in don't allow you to leave with drinks. Even back in the 90's when I started going out. It's irresponsible of the landlord to allow it and also to allow that many in when there's not enough toilets for them all.

The lights came on and we were told to finish our drinks and leave. I have been to parties at pubs in residential areas. We were told we couldn't be outside after 10pm so the noise wasn't bothering the residents. So the beer garden should be closed at that time. They can lose their licence if they allow it to continue.

OP do they clean the street up the morning after or do they just leave broken glass all over the street.

No previous owners have allowed people to leave with drinks. They also didn’t allow people to congregate out the front on the road. There were at least 100 people out there for the whole of last night (different people over the night but constantly loads of people out there.)

They clean up immediately outside the pub, but didn’t even bother with the ones in our drive directly across the road, certainly not up and down the road. To be fair after I went in they did send people out with bin bags to clear up, but only because I raised it.

The manger also told me they only show the football as a service to the community and they don’t make any money from it. 😂😂😂😂😂. He clearly thinks we are all idiots.

I would think it’s just for the football, which ends in a week.

Similar story here

Troubled pub forced to cut opening hours after complaints from neighbours - Staffordshire Live https://share.google/13AqzrMOxb7geSoiI

Maybe post the videos and tag your councillors.

If they can 'allow' this behaviour for the world cup then why not for xyz sporting tournament,/Eurovision/bank holidays/Christmas/new year, etc? If they weren't making money from it then where would be the incentive for staying open come from, given they have to pay staff wages etc? If people are getting intoxicated to the extent they're pissing on people's property and you're finding 50+ glasses bottles strewn around, that's just not normal acceptable behaviour for a residential area. The pubs near us were all strictly bookings only with a cut off a few hours before kick off as they didn't want to breach capacity.

That sounds awful. We lived opposite a pub in a residential side street for nine years. If people hung around outside at closing time the landlord was out there telling them to move on. Beer garden was closed early and people had to go inside, in nine years I never found a broken glass on the street. What you are describing is clearly unacceptable and certainly doesn’t fall into the “you should have expected it” category!

Log every bad behaviour with dates and times. Video the noisy behaviour, video people pissing where they shouldn't. Send with a complaint to the council, they could get their late licence revoked.

If they don’t make an effort for their patrons to behave and leave the pub quietly amongst other issues then by all means go to the council. The World Cup is one thing but this could be the blueprint for other sporting occasions, like Six Nations and Ashes cricket series.

They’ve already just said it’s community (which is partly true) and they make no money from it which is a blatant lie.