A noisy Brighton pub has been landed with a £7,000 bill after being taken to court.
Brighton and Hove City Council prosecuted the Red Rooms pub, in Queen’s Road, Brighton, after persistent complaints from neighbours.
The pub, owned by the Sussex Pub Co, had already been issued with a noise abatement order.
But after more complaints about loud music, shouting and cheering, the council’s environmental health team decided to get tough.
Yesterday (Monday 27 September) the Sussex Pub Co admitted four breaches of its licence and one breach of a noise abatement notice.
Len Batten, for the council, told Brighton magistrates that neighbours had been complaining about the Red Rooms since lat year.
Mr Batten said that the landlord was served with a noise abatement notice after the noise had been monitored with recording equipment.
He said that environmental health officers from the out-of-hours noise patrol visited the premises in response to a complaint at 12.50am on Sunday 11 July.
“In the basement of the premises a DJ was playing music from a deck with an amplifier and speakers,” Mr Batten said.
“There was a sound limiter at the premises but this was not working.”
He said that the broken sound limiter failed to prevent the volume from exceeding previously set limits.
He told the court that, under the licence, no music should have been played after midnight and that doors and windows should have been closed from 10 pm.
On three other occasions, Mr Batten said, officers witnessed music being played after the permitted time and the doors left open.
Magistrates imposed fines of £1,000 for each of the five offences and ordered the landlord to pay £2,016 court costs.
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, the council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “It really is intolerable that the neighbours were subjected to this level of noise nuisance.
“The pub was given every chance to put the matter right and the council had no alternative but to prosecute to protect residents.”
