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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Pub noise and village nuisances

59 replies

lotusbell · 08/08/2020 11:21

I posted this in Crime hoping to get some official or legal advice on whether this is an anti social issue but thought I'd post here too.
I live on a relatively busy road through the centre of a large village. Crossroads type set up and I'm near the junction. I live in a row of terraces and there is a pub opposite.
It has always been noisy - I lived on the pub side years ago and it was nowhere near as noisy as it is now. Landlord took over and made it into a live music venue. Pub has no outdoor area but opens onto the pavement outside which is raised from the road and has picnic benches outside.
Since pubs have reopened it is doing booming business which is fair enough. However, the noise levels are ridiculous, obviously exaccerbated by the nice weather.
Clientele is very rowdy and in the past I've often leant out of the window and shouted at people to shut up. Since pubs reopened, there have been large groups of youths drinking, shouting etc and at the moment, it's not always restricted to the weekend.
At midnight, landlord let's the last few inside and shuts the front door so it quietens a bit but often pumping music inside. Closes at 1am.
My son and stepdaughter (when visiting) sleep in the front, our room is in the back but we still need to keep the window shut as the sound really carries. I often sleep in the front as OH is a heavy snorer so know exactly how loud it is.

In addition to this, this road has seen an increase in traffic with mopeds, scooters, bikes with loud exhausts and cars driving by and beeping horns loudly, especially at the people outside the pub - this can be eay morning midday and in the night.
My next door neighbour rang the landlord last week ask him to do something about the noise which he said he would. He makes no effort to ask his customers to be respectful of the fact it is a residential area - houses at the back, side and opposite.
I rang him last night just after 11 and asked him to tell them to quieten down which he did but they paid little attention. Said youths then proceeded to hang around on the street til gone 1am, not drinking but arguing, fighting and generally being noisy.
I.am dreading tonight as it will probably be the same. Saw neighbour this morning and told her. They sleep at the back but are forced up to bed quite early to avoid the noise at the front and she is just as fed up as I am and is going to ring again.
What can we do about this? Someone in my local Facegroup page has encouraged people to report as antisocial behaviour but this is more for the speeding and loud cars and bikes which the whole village is suffering from.
I think landlord needs to be more proactive about what is going on outside his pub - he comes out to collect empties but is otherwise inside and obviously oblivious to the noise outside unless pointed out to him. Am tempted to just ring the pub every time until he gets fed up of me. Is it not part of your licensing terms to be aware of and be able to manage what goes on with your customers inside and outside the pub? Should there be no noise after 11pm, or is it later at the weekend?

I'm really tired today, please just useful advice, I don't need any "you chose to live opposite a pub' type comments.

OP posts:
lotusbell · 08/08/2020 23:42

@MitziK, yes, all will be just grand then! Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

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Oliversmumsarmy · 08/08/2020 23:43

We went to view a few houses today. Just the outsides as we didn’t know the areas.

One we saw which we thought would be an ideal house. Relatively new. Interior what we wanted.
Found out it backed onto a pub.
We knew this as the noise from the karaoke at 4pm was so loud we were sat in the car at first wondering which house the noise was coming from. Then realised it was coming from a different road.

I think you are being a tad unreasonable as with pubs, busy roads, churches and farms comes noise so if you want peace and quiet then you don’t move near these places.

TrickyD · 09/08/2020 11:05

Mitzak, pity you have to be so unpleasant. Maybe a pub would make a more congenial neighbour than you.

Lotusbell, you are perfectly entitled to be angry at what appear to be completely different conditions around the pub from those when you lived there previously.

Good luck with exploring all the routes mentioned on here.

SeaState3 · 09/08/2020 11:27

Ok, go to UK.GOV and go to the alcohol licensing area and put your post code in and it should give you some useful information about who to contact.

Are you neighbours also annoyed about the increase in pub activity, then if so talk to them, and see if you can get together and have a word with the landlord/licensee. Tell him/them that you will all call the police every time there is after hours anti-social activity by his clientele.

If nothing changes, make a note of when the license is up for review and time your complaints to local authority accordingly.

lotusbell · 09/08/2020 11:43

Thank you people, just trying to catch my neighbour to see if they managed to speak to the landlord as discussed. Last might was very noisy up until about 10.30/10.45 then it quickened down and front door was shut. Bit of thumping music inside but no one sat outside drinking. Usually he does this around midnight so not sure why he did this easier last night but had a much better sleep because of it.
Have managed to find out a bit about their license, but doesn't really tell you a lot about it, nothing about pavement cafe which I think has been eased off throughout the country due to having to limit seating inside. Had a look at another local pub's details for comparison as they have a beer garden but theirs didn't say anything about that so assume there's not much difference.

OP posts:
lotusbell · 09/08/2020 11:44

Excuse my typos, hope it makes sense.

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Yddraigoldragon · 09/08/2020 11:58

Also worth contacting your local councillor, should be able to find out who they are from council website. Some of ours would be very proactive with this, especially if there is a local election looming....

MitziK · 09/08/2020 13:39

@TrickyD

Mitzak, pity you have to be so unpleasant. Maybe a pub would make a more congenial neighbour than you.

Lotusbell, you are perfectly entitled to be angry at what appear to be completely different conditions around the pub from those when you lived there previously.

Good luck with exploring all the routes mentioned on here.

Nah, I'm a great neighbour. Don't make any noise at all.

What I do know though, is what happens when yet another venue gets closed down, particularly in rural areas.

You close down a pub and it will be turned into a block of flats or a supermarket, complete with 7am piledriving that shakes every house in the area, then once the construction work finally ends you're stuck with 15-30 new homes, 30-60 cars, no parking spaces, loads of people making noise and fewer opportunities for people less able to leave the village to socialise.

Nearly happened in DP's village when a pub closed. Fortunately, the supermarket decided that the opportunity for another site was better and they put the blocks of flats in a more central area where they didn't need to divert the river and build a massive access road. A few months later, the pub reopened with a community centre, restaurant and standard bar/venue. It's thrived ever since.

Now it provides work, a social place (and was instrumental in looking after the elderly and disabled in the area over lockdown) and whilst the people living next probably quite liked it being quiet/derelict before, it's still better than having high density housing and a 24 hours supermarket, complete with HGV deliveries overnight.

DDiva · 09/08/2020 14:02

You moved to a busy road opposite a pub, there will be noise.

You could check they are adhearing to noise and covid guidlines but I think you're unrealistic to think it wont effect you. If you want oeace and quiet, move somewhere quiet !

lotusbell · 09/08/2020 14:06

@MitziK, I am not suggesting it gets shut down nor am I planning on getting it shut down. There are plenty of busy and thriving pubs in my village and also plenty of new housing developments adding to our numbers and sucking up all.our already limited resources and amenities. And we had an old derelict pub turned into a local Tesco a few years back and my house at the time backed onto it, yes it was disruptive. Please don't assume your experience is the same everywhere or that you know anything about me as a person or my situation.

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lotusbell · 09/08/2020 14:12

Thanks @DDivafor a)stating the obvious along with several others and b)super advice. As mentioned, I only asked for helpful advice, I'm not stupid enough to think living here will be quiet but thanks for missing the point of my post and taking the time to comment.

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lotusbell · 09/08/2020 14:18

And yes, aware I've posted in AIBU? so should expect people to say I am being reasonable, not expecting everyone to agree but just looking for advice.

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Covert19 · 10/08/2020 12:40

Thank you for posting lotusbell. We’re looking at buying a house near a pub so now I know to check out its license and scope it out on a weekend at chucking-out time to get an idea of what it’s going to be like...... Good luck with getting your landlord to encourage his customers to be mindful of residents in the area.

lotusbell · 10/08/2020 15:50

Thank you Covert19 and good luck. We didnt have a lot of choice in moving here at the time, we love the house and the neighbours but living opposite a pub would not have been first choice. It has got worse since we moved in and is likely down to more people still being at home, the novelty factor of lockdown ending and it being summer and mainly nice weather. Satyrday night wasn't too bad and last night ok too although naturally not as busy on a Sunday. Investing in some good plugs (which don't normally work for me) is my next step. Definitely do some research at busy times!

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Hardbackwriter · 10/08/2020 15:55

As I said, I don't need the 'you chose to live opposite a pub', comments. There are reasons why we're here and it's never as clear cut as you think, but thanks for contributing.

Whatever your reasons for moving to opposite a pub when you don't want pub noise, I don't understand why you think they're anyone else's problem including the landlord?

lotusbell · 10/08/2020 16:00

Not really sure I understand your point, @Hardbackwriter?

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HeronLanyon · 10/08/2020 16:11

hardback just because it’s a lib doesn’t mean they can ignore all of the local authority requirement of lins not to cause undue nuisance. All pubs have to abide by conditions and licensing requirements (hours/numbers/outside areas/music licence hours etc etc).

Why can’t a resident nearby complain if the landlord is causing unlawful nuisance by ignoring these, and try to get it sorted out ?

It’s all a balancing act - business interests and residents’ quality of life.

ATM that balance is probably slightly different as businesses struggle to survive and residents struggle with lockdown and wfh (or whatever we’re calling it).

This pub sounds as though they are taking the piss to me and causing problems (over and above what you expect).

purpleboy · 10/08/2020 16:25

I used to own a hotel, field all around, no neighbours, then over the course of years they built houses next to our land. Hotel was busy, live music, karaoke, weddings every weekend. Large garden lots of families at the weekends.
Every weekend the neighbours would complain, environmental health out all the time with noise complaints, it used to piss me off so much, why move near a pub/hotel etc.. and then complain about the noise. You know it's there why buy a house if you want peace and quiet. It is impossible to monitor all your guests at all times, we were constantly telling people to be quiet, we put up signs, we moved the kids play area, we stopped the music earlier, the complaints still keeps coming in. In the end environmental health stopped responding, they did all the noise checks, they were within the parameters of acceptable noise, they saw the efforts we were making and got fed up with the complaints. It was a serious source of constant stress for us.

Having said all that.....

We built a hour in the ground of the hotel, we sold the hotel but kept our house and the noise is fecking horrendous! So I absolutely feel your pain, but as long as the landlord is doing what he can, there isn't much else he can do. If he isn't out there telling people to be quiet and making sure everyone has dispersed at closing time then try environmental health!

HellSmith · 10/08/2020 16:29

Call your local council environmental health, this comes under noise & nuisance. You can google the number quite easily. They’ll probably ask you to keep a diary for a few weeks, & they’ll go round & have a word. The pub near me had a licence until 1.15am but the beer garden, & all doors, & windows had to be shut by 11.15pm, otherwise they were breaching their licensing terms & conditions & could end up with a very hefty fine & lose their licence.

lotusbell · 10/08/2020 16:31

@HeronLanyon, thank you for your reasoning!
@purpleboy, thank you. With regards to your house (tbh, can't quite imagine a house on hotel grounds!), was it because the new hotel owners didnt make the same efforts as you did when you owned it?
To be honest, my issue with the landlord us that I don't think he does enough to keep it in check, he is inside and if it's busy and they have music on inside, I don't think he is aware of how bad the noise is outside and I'd be grateful if he made the effort to do regular checks although you would probably have to be in the position of the residents to realise the effect it has.

OP posts:
Couchbettato · 10/08/2020 16:48

This isn't in Sheffield is it? Could have written this post myself word for word.

lotusbell · 10/08/2020 17:34

No, @Couchbettato, but sorry to hear you're having the same issues!

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lotusbell · 10/08/2020 17:48

@HellSmith, thanks for that, sounds similar although I can't find any details about the actual licence and what it entails, other than their opening hours

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purpleboy · 10/08/2020 18:31

It's in the car park. So 100ft from the hotel.
The clientele has changed since we were there, and the current owners don't have any experience so unfortunately are useless at dealing with conflict and loud drunk people, not to mention the feral kids who are running around the car park throwing stones into our garden at 11pm. It's a joke really.
Get onto environmental health, they will come and do sound/noise checks, if they are breaking the licensing laws they will soon be made aware and hopefully change the way they run things.

Crimblecrumble1990 · 10/08/2020 18:43

As you have posted in AIBU, yes I think you are. You live on a busy road, opposite a pub?

If they are breaking their licence e.g open until 3am and they should be closed at midnight then definitely report. If not, I think you need to accept it.

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