Pub in residential area - Objection to license renewal

sheepshagger

There is a boozer that has been open a year, a lot of the neighbours are fed up with the noise etc, they don't seem to give a fock about their neighbours (all houses/apartments).

The CC have been out, done noise tests and they way over the limit in that respect.

How does one go about objecting to the license renewal ?(which all Pubs do in September annualy I am told). Do I need to go and get copies of the existing license or can we just all write in?

Has anyone done this before?

Thanks

lostexpectation

a new pub in residential area?

godtabh

lostexpectation wrote: »

a new pub in residential area?

A purpose built one more than likely.

I think there is a court hearing and you can object then.

jdivision

Yes, they have to put a legal notice in the papers advising of the court date and you can object. most of them have constance cassidy representing them and she's damn good at her job so you'd want to be very well prepared when you turn up.

sheepshagger

The Pubs only been a year, the apartments/houses around it have been here a bit longer.

Its the blantant disregard for the neighbours thats the problem, oh and the fact the off licence is open way past the new hours, they are taking the piss and don't give a fock.

As I said the cc have been out at night and have taken noise readings from inside peoples apartments and out on the street, they were over the allowed limit.

lostexpectation

well presumably they just a get a warning and some order something to reduce the sound but i get the impression in new places it especially apartments you got expect a slightly different level of residential respect.

dats_right

I presume the pub didn't just appear over night, did you know that your house/apartment was ultimately going to be beside a pub when you bought it? Because, if you did then what did you expect? For my money it's a bit like buying a house beside Dublin Airport and complaining about the noise of planes or living in the vicinity of Croke Park and complaining about crowds and noise from matches, if you buy a property beside a pub then you have to expect a certain level of noise. If you want peace and tranquility move to the countryside.

ixoy

Well people don't always just know a pub's going to appear. I was in a block in Smithfield with empty units below the apartments when we moved in. Some time after we were there, the unit was turned over to a pub which played music too loudly at weekends and had a "smoking section" directly underneath our balcony. It can happen and you can have little control over it.

lostexpectation

that's exactly what we mean, if you move to aprtments complex like that, that's what you expect and it partly the point of moving there.

but there's no reason to go over the noise levels

bangersandmash

dats_right wrote: »

For my money it's a bit like buying a house beside Dublin Airport and complaining about the noise of planes or living in the vicinity of Croke Park and complaining about crowds and noise from matches, if you buy a property beside a pub then you have to expect a certain level of noise. If you want peace and tranquility move to the countryside.

Your examples are hardly comparable. We're talking about a newly opened pub that isn't complying with licensing laws and noise limits, not an established public amenity or piece of infrastructure. Closing the pub or curtailing its activity isn't going to impact on hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

Also the OP did say that the apartments were there first, and that it's a residential area, not the city centre. If the OP lives in such an area within the bounds of a city, it's not unreasonable to expect at least some freedom from noise pollution at night. Traffic noise is a fact of life and largely unavoidable, but a pub like this is hardly a necessity or an asset to the community, and is subject to license renewal. Whether the OP has any real recourse though is another thing.

sheepshagger

bangersandmash wrote: »

Your examples are hardly comparable. We're talking about a newly opened pub that isn't complying with licensing laws and noise limits, not an established public amenity or piece of infrastructure. Closing the pub or curtailing its activity isn't going to impact on hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

Also the OP did say that the apartments were there first, and that it's a residential area, not the city centre. If the OP lives in such an area within the bounds of a city, it's not unreasonable to expect at least some freedom from noise pollution at night. Traffic noise is a fact of life and largely unavoidable, but a pub like this is hardly a necessity or an asset to the community, and is subject to license renewal. Whether the OP has any real recourse though is another thing.

The pub 'appeared' after most of the people moved into the apartment complex. There are also other parts of the estate who have been there longer than us and they are also affected (some worse than I/we are)

I like a pint and a bit of music as much as the next person, its just the noise, they can either have the speakers a bit lower or install some sound proofing. Theres the obvious pain of drunk people coming out late at night, am not happy about that but what can you do?

When I was buying the place (and other people asked the same question) the estate agent said it was going to be several retail shops. . .then about 5 months later a pub appeared (taking all the spaces of these 'shops').

Theres also a smoking area out the front, but sometimes they let people out the back (which affects us). They have been told by the council that they are not allowed anything out the back (tables/chairs etc) and that people should not be going out the back (they can only smoke at the front). They said they were going to install bars on the back doors so that they were only emergency exit doors, that was in December.

Its not in the city centre at all, there is a small bit of trraffic noise but you have to deal with that, I'm not that unrealistic!#

If I owned a pub in a residential area, I would be trying to keep the local community onside, obviously this pub owner (its a large group) doesn't give a fock :mad:

irishlostboy

i suppose no one has an answer for the original question?

ellejay

You need to get the gardai involved.

When you see the offlicence operating out of hours, you need to call your local station, and ask them for a log number.

When the customers are leaving the pub, (they're only meant to have 30 mins drinking up time) and if they are very loud, you need to call hte gardai then also. They probly can't do too much, but you need to get the calls logged.

Then, you need to get a solicitor, to object on the court date.

Try this website for some more info:
http://www.barkeeper.ie/page.asp?menu=0&page=796


not sure if this legal jargon is helpful to you:
http://www.courts.ie/rules.nsf/0/5551328d04ad702f80256d2b0046a043?OpenDocument

Also, the gardai will no doubt get fed up dealing with the calls, so it'll be in their interest to sort out unruly barkeepers.

Regards,
Lj

jerry2623

To establish that you are not just a crank or another nutter you need to set up a relationship with your local Garda station.The best way of doing this is to call in person and explain your concerns. I presume at this stage that you have tried to sort out the problem with the manager of the public-house underneath you .I am constantly amazed by the people who's 1st course of action is either to write here or ring the Joe Duffy line before trying to sort out by contacting people directly.

shoegirl

sheepshagger wrote: »

I like a pint and a bit of music as much as the next person, its just the noise, they can either have the speakers a bit lower or install some sound proofing. Theres the obvious pain of drunk people coming out late at night, am not happy about that but what can you do?

I was in a bar in Douglas St in Cork about 2 years ago and they had occasional late night licences. There are about 6 or 7 pubs in this street, so ppl there ought to know what they are letting themselves in for when they move there. Anyway somebody called the guards and this van appeared without about 5 gardai who came in and got very bolshy with the manageress. It was a weekend, and the place usually doesn't have music after hours. I was quite surprised at the aggression the gardai showed (well 2 of them anyway - there were 2 ban gardai who were happy to be chatted up by a couple of local dykes out the front!)

What you probably should do is get together with a few other residents (call a little meeting) and get your own representation between you to object to the licence. I agree that noise is a pain in the hole, but its very hard to stop.