The volume of sound coming from a Hove pub was not consistently loud enough to amount to a noise nuisance, a council licensing panel has found. People living in four properties near the Paris House pub, in Western Road, Hove, complained to Brighton and Hove City Council about the venue . They asked a council licensing panel to impose more conditions to put a stop to loud music late at night.
The panel – made up of three councillors – reviewed the licence at a hearing that lasted eight hours a week ago – on Friday, May 10. The panel – David McGregor, Paul Nann and Tobias Sheard – heard from neighbours, a sound expert, the pub’s owners and musicians who perform there. Neighbours who have lived near the pub for between 12 and 35 years spoke about lost sleep because of loud music and being able to hear the words inside their homes.
But the panel were not convinced that the noise amounted to a public nuisance. The council said: “The area itself is a busy, vibrant city centre location with many other licensed and retail premises and thus a level of noise is inevitable. “The evidence of noise disturbance is not sufficiently widespread or consistent to amount to a public nuisance in our view.
“There are many representations from residents who live closer to the premises than the applicants who are not disturbed by noise from the premises including those who live immediately next door. “The representations from the environmental protection officer and licensing off.