Neighbours of a Hove pub pleaded with councillors to stop it playing music so loud the song lyrics can be heard inside their homes.
Four people living near the Paris House in Western Road are asking the council to introduce more conditions to stop loud music late at night, supported by nine other neighbours.
But the pub says if any changes are made to its licence, it will not survive the changes.
Tensions ran high during a mammoth eight-hour licensing panel at Hove Town Hall last Friday (10 May).
The residents called the review themselves after several years of complaints and mediation didn’t work.
Paris House supporters sent 130 representations and a 1,646-signature petition, made up in part of emails received via a QR code.
Resident Chris Hallsworth, who has lived in the area for 12 years, told the panel the residents had “tried every single thing” including providing video clips and noise diaries and having recording equipment in their homes.
He said: “We can’t sit in the back garden when there are problems, we’re woken up from sleep.
“We can’t use the front part of our house to have guests to stay with us, it’s a bit of a joke within the family and with friends that we live in a noisy house.”
He said the residents did not want to see the pub closed, but conditions introduced.
His next-door neighbour Jac Kirby, who has lived in her home for 19 years, said: “I’ve bought a tent and gone away. I’ve gone away to friends. I’ve been woken up at 1.30 in the morning with screaming and shouting.
“I can’t get to sleep at night and this has been going on for a long time now.”
Cambridge Road resident Leigh Rush has lived in his flat for 35 years and has to turn up his TV or radio to drown out the music from Paris House.
He said: “Paris House claims to be part of what makes Brighton, Brighton, but I disagree.
“What makes Brighton, Brighton, is the freedom to enjoy one’s life in a way that does not impinge on other people and that’s not true of the Paris House.”
On Mondays Mr Rush works from home and has to work through three hours of music in the afternoon when the pub has a live jazz afternoon.
Noise expert Richard Vivian, 56, was asked to test noise levels for the residents, which he said were “shocking” late at night – although he said daytime levels were “not great but not the end of the world”.
The volume was so loud inside their homes on Saturday, 20 April, he said the noise limiter in the pub was probably not working.
He said: “Suddenly there’s a very loud noise and it’s very clearly recognisable Blondie’s Heart of Glass, the 70s/80s hit.
“It’s just really loud. Just incredibly loud.
“It may have coincided with the doors being wide open as customers left, but it certainly indicates to me that everything is turned up for the grand finale of the DJ.”
He recommended conditions to limit entertainment to before 11pm, to ensure live music is routed entirely through the sound limiter after 7pm, and for a locked noise limiter to be installed and set by an environmental health officer.
The pub’s Saturday night resident DJ Andy Wagstaff-Clarke, known as Andy the Dandy, confirmed he finishes his weekend set with Only Your Heart of Glass, a “mash-up” of the Blondie song and The Platters Only You.
He said he checks the levels of all the music played and runs his equipment through the pub’s noise limiter.
Paris House was represented by specialist licensing solicitor Andy Grimsey of Poppleston Allen who said the pub has been a music venue for 30 years.
Mr Grimsey said: “I know it ebbs and flows with different occupiers and operators, but it has always been there in terms of living memory.
“Just like busy cars going to down Western Road, people arguing in the street, the homeless people sadly who are around there. the private parties in flats, it’s a busy vibrant area.”
Paris House is owned by Rowbell Leisure, whose head of legal Tony Groom said there had been 22 visits by council officers from environmental health and licensing but no noise nuisance was found.
He said: “There’s a distorted impression as to what the pub is actually like. Yes we do call our Saturday night a club night, but we’re being ironic … Our average age on a Saturday night is well over 50.”
He said the noise limiter was checked by environmental health and set at the correct level as required by the licence.
Pub manager Helena Marchand said every effort was made to minimise noise.
She said: “Some of the music acts I book are the same ones that have been booked since we started having music, which makes me think that nothing has changed in the way we do our live sessions.
“The only think that’s changed in the past few years would be the neighbours’ tolerance to that live music, but we did not change a thing.”
Rowbell Leisure director Alistair MacKinnon-Musson, 61, explained the company cannot install a lobby system to reduce noise through the doors because there is only one entrance and installing double glazing would be prohibitively expensive.
He said: “Brighton needs the Paris House and all live music community spaces like it because they simply make Brighton, Brighton.
“For it to survive Brighton needs the Paris House to remain exactly as it is, without added conditionality on its licence.
“What we have is already working, it is not broken and does need fixing.”
The panel – councillors David McGregor, Paul Nann and Tobias Sheared – retired to make their decision which should be made public in five working days.
Neighbours to a pub that has played music for 30 years are surprised when it plays music…
Maybe don’t buy a house next to a pub that plays music.
Next they’ll be complaining about the seagulls.
Same logic applies to the people making the noise, living out of town,,,,, in a quiet setting
Maybe when they bought their property near a pub that has played music for 30 years, the music wasn’t played as loud, as frequently and as long a period as it is now. We have no way of measuring as we have no baseline to measure against.
Paris house volume INSIDE the venue exceeds legal safe limits. Council should enforce this at least – it is a health matter
Don’t live next to a pub, if you don’t like living next to a pub. Don’t ruin it for everyone else because you didn’t use a tiny bit off commonsense when looking for a place to live. Patcham is nice and quiet, move there
I’ve lived right nextdoor to the Paris house for almost three years. The volume of the music has never bothered me once. Perhaps Brighton council should focus on the people who hang around next to the pub after closing hours, shouting, drinking cider and smoking crack.
Residents inside their own home should be able to enjoy their life without interruptions from commercial businesses full stop!
Who filled BHCC’s pocket for that licence (whenever that was!).
Go and live in the countryside then.
If you choose to live in a city, you choose the life, noise and bustle which goes with city living.
Where does it say that living in a city means that one group of people can seriously affect the lives of so many others?
They can’t. Unless you choose to live within a short radius of a venue.
Surely people know if they are night people or morning people and whether they are sensitive to noise or not.
Why should businesses be negatively impacted because of people like you and should they pass their costs for lost trade onto you in return for providing peace and quiet in the middle of a city as you dictate?
If you choose to live in central Brighton near a pub, then expect it to be noisy and stop being so selfish ! The pub was there first, its is not breaking any rules but your selfish whining about it will mean another Brighton institution is closed!! Quit whingeing ! move to the countryside or buy earplugs
Wrong, people lived there before the pub,,, or do you think the pub was set up with no possible customers around ???
OK, so anyone that has lived there for more than 172 years can be forgiven.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Don’t live near a pub or nightclub if you don’t like live music or expect some noise every night.
Businesses must be allowed to earn their living, particularly post-covid devastation.
Selfish NIMBYS at it again. The pub has been playing live music for years and environmental health are happy that the venue is compliant. Like all NIMBY complainers, gross over exaggeration.
Case dismissed. Next….
I hope they put in stringent conditions. I won’t go inside this place although I love jazz because even from the street the noise levels are just way too high. The publicans and here are just taking the absolute Micky and it should be controlled or the place closed. I feel very sorry for the neighbours. As for the petition this is no doubt signed by people that are not affected by this.
As a regular of The Paris House and having celebrated my 65th and 70th birthdays I can confirm that the staff are very aware of trying to control any noise nuisance. Doors and windows are shut and kept shut during evening music sessions.
I’ve never experienced any dangerously load music either!
The road is busy with many loud groups of people not linked with the pub.
Brighton is a city with ambitions to be even more thriving and even more successful, and this pub is on the Main Street through the heart of the city from the main shopping centre to the restaurants and bars of Hove at the western end. What the hell do residents expect? Surely if they don’t like living in the very centre of a city with a reputation for its nightlife, then it is their own choice of location that is to blame. You can’t have any sympathy with them, it’s totally ridiculous. Are they suggesting that the city closes at 10.30pm every evening just so they can go to bed peacefully?
If there is any fault to be attributed to The Paris House it’s the playing of dreadful 80s pop muzak. Blondie – Heart of Glass? Really? Sounds more like a cheap wedding reception disco at Camber Sands Social Club.
Come on, raise your game.
Things changed when the pub’s management changed.
Before it was jazz based and closed / quietened down at a reasonable time.
The current licence holder run it like a seven day a week party venue.
Having it going ‘full tilt’ at 1am is not acceptable.
Having its customers shouting and screaming at each other in the street at 1:30am is also not acceptable.
Hay lol maybe you should move to bevingdean if you want to live somewhere quiet, not the main drag from brighton to hove.
What goes through people’s heads honestly. Ah this flat looks like it’s in the heart of the busy city, doubt its going to be remotely noisy to live here with it’s single pain widows, next to a pub that plays live music until 1am …
Don’t like living next to a pub, don’t live next to a pub.
It’s like living next to the sea and moaning that it’s a bit wet at times…. Either buy sound proofing or move house. Moaning that it’s noisy living just off Western road honestly. NIMBY nonsense.
It’s the pub that should buy sound proofing. They say it would be too expensive to install. What rubbish! If people can pay to have double glazing in their homes, surely the pub could afford to pay for that in their premises. And in any case, it is quite probable that the local residents bought their homes at a time when extremely loud music was not emanating from the pub. Nowadays everything is played so loud it is impossible to have any conversation. And for anyone living nearby it must be like Hell. Goodness knows what hearing problems will result from the regular staff and customers being exposed to that for so long, at such a high decibel level.
I was ready to make my don’t buy a house next to a pub comment but upon reading the article there does seem more to this.
The residents quoted all seem to have lived there over 10 years suggesting this is a recent problem. It also appears discussions have broken down between the parties so no compromise has been found. Especially if the session lasted 8 hours with the council and seemingly tense.
The pub can’t really control the drunks once they’ve left but can limit the noise to reasonable levels. White noise machines are a godsend as well for neighbours when trying to sleep.
There simply isn’t much compatability between pubs and homes unless both are willing to compromise. If people are suffering with severe sleep problems due to the pub they won’t be easy to reason with either.
Sad but seems like the pub may have further restrictions placed on them.
The pub is in Hove, not Brighton.
Signed the petition the other day; it’s one of my favourite pubs and love the live music.
I have lived in Palmeria for 4 years and this is the equivalent of me complaining about the bus stop outside. Yes it gets rowdy, sometimes people go a step too far but I knew this when I moved here.
This particular area is not cheap so please move somewhere else rather than try and rip the heart out of our city