Court hears appeal by famous Manchester music venue over noise abatement notice
Manchester Magistrates’ Court is this week hearing an appeal by historic music venue ‘Night & Day’ over a noise abatement notice issued by Manchester City Council.
The multi-day hearing began yesterday (29 November) and is expected to conclude tomorrow (1 December).
The council issued the notice to the ‘Night & Day' café last year, following a complaint from a new flat-owner in an adjoining property, a warehouse recently converted for residential use.
According to a report on BBC North West Tonight, one resident from the adjoining property said he could hear the lyrics from “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by The Eurythmics from his bedroom, and the only way he could escape the noise was to “sleep in the living room or go away for the weekend”.
The independent music venue was opened in 1991 by Jan Oldenburg, who turned it from an old chip shop into a central hub for creative people.
It is said to have helped launch the careers of bands such as Elbow, Arctic Monkeys and Wet Leg, and several artists have publicly shown their support for the venue as it claimed it faced the risk of closure.
The venue is now managed by Jennifer Smithson who took over from her father, and her husband Ben Smithson.
Sarah Clover of Kings Chambers, acting on behalf of the venue, said in her opening remarks on 29 November: “I feel the council is in a desperate battle to save face following disastrous PR” (In reference to the celebrities and other groups coming together to show support for the venue).
Giving evidence, venue manager Jennifer Smithson said the notice had a “huge impact” and it was “absolutely terrifying it could all be taken away from them [her and her family]”.
“I can’t think why the council think we’re doing something wrong” she said, describing the situation as a “power struggle” between the venue and the council.
Leo Charalambides, the barrister representing Manchester City Council, is reported to have said: “Perhaps the business is putting its needs ahead of the conditions of the licence, which included not disturbing or causing a nuisance to neighbours”.
The BBC report said Jennifer Smithson disagreed with this, and provided a defence witness, an independent acoustic expert, who carried out his own tests at maximum sound levels which he concluded were ‘reasonable’.
The defence witness also suggested that perhaps it was the resident’s property that “did not have the correct sound insulation” which is “perhaps down to the three regimes at the Council not working together” (Licensing, Planning and Environmental Health).
He described the Night and Day café as the “heart and soul of the city”, adding “restricting noise levels in this way would lead to quiet or dead streets”.
A Manchester City Council spokesman told the BBC ahead of the hearing it "remains supportive of the music scene in Manchester which Night & Day has championed", but that it had to "comply with our duties in respect of statutory nuisance".
He said that the issue relates to "very loud music played into the early hours of the morning and not live band performances", and that "extensive discussions have taken place" to try to address it.
Lottie Winson
