The manager of a noisy Brighton pub has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay almost £1,000 in costs.
Adrian McGrory, of Belgrave Street, Brighton, was fined in his absence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court today.
The case was brought after complaints from neighbours of The Geese Have Gone Over the Water in Southover Street, on the corner of Coleman Street, in Hanover.
Noise patrol officers went to the pub twice in response to complaints as Brighton and Hove City Council had already served a noise abatement order on the premises in October 2009.
On each occasion – Saturday 23 April and Saturday 30 April – magistrates were told that excessively loud music, shouting and cheering could be heard coming from The Geese.
On the first visit about 20 people were talking, shouting and drinking in the street outside the pub.
Loud music from the pub could be clearly heard in a neighbour’s bedroom.
Mr McGrory was warned the pub had breached the abatement notice.
Thumping bass
Magistrates were told that similar scenes were repeated when officers visited a week later at 11.15pm after more complaints.
Again noisy customers were gathered outside and loud music continued until about midnight.
Neighbours reported that a thumping bass sound made it impossible to enjoy reading, watching TV or sleeping.
One neighbour said that the noise had been going on for up to four years.
She had been prescribed sleeping tablets and used earplugs but neither helped much.
A spokesman for the council said: “A noisy neighbour such as this pub manager can make life a misery.
“It can’t be right that someone has to turn to sleeping pills to endure their neighbour’s behaviour.
“We’re happy for people to enjoy themselves in pubs but it cannot be at someone else’s expense.”
Mr McGrory was fined £1,500 for each breach of the abatement notice and ordered to pay costs totalling £952.
The case follows a fine of more than £1,000 in September last year and costs of £854 for an earlier breach of the noise abatement order.
The pub is now under new management.
