Noise complaints are impacting hospitality and live entertainment venues

Rising noise complaints against pubs, bars, and restaurants after the COVID-19 pandemic are creating significant challenges for hospitality venues, threatening the future of live entertainment, which has prompted the Night Time Economy Industry to call for change.

For hospitality venues, whether hosting live music to boost revenue and footfall, improve customer satisfaction, or purely through their passion for it, one thing which shouldn’t come with hosting live entertainment is noise complaints.

As Music Venue Trust puts it, 'We have to be practical and say that Music Venues make noise. Music is a noise. Noise is a nuisance. Is music therefore a nuisance? We don’t think so.'

Despite this belief, the reality of bars, pubs and restaurants having noise complaints made against them has surged in recent years. This poses a significant threat to the sector's sustainability and prevents it from thriving culturally and financially.

Following on from data from the Night Time Industries Association, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed a 53% rise in noise complaints in London from 2018 to 2022. This was reflected in noise abatement notices, which increased from 34 to 51 in the same four-year period.

National trends in noise complaints

To determine whether this issue extends beyond London, GigPig submitted FOI requests to 10 major cities outside of the capital by asking how many hospitality venues (restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs) have had a noise complaint or a noise abatement notice issued between 2019 and 2023.

The findings show a mixed picture, where five cities experienced increased noise complaints while others remained stable or saw declines. Dublin saw the largest increase of 91%, from 338 in 2019 to 644 in 2023.

Elsewhere in Glasgow, the city consistently received the most complaints with 4,629 over the past four years, a percentage difference of 120.43% ahead of Belfast, which received the second most complaints with 2,100.

Under the Licensing Act 2003, license holders are required to prevent public nuisance, which comes to light when neighbours complain of excessive noise. But, the legislation is ambiguous, to say the least, as issues are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

It’s relatively straightforward to follow a common sense approach. The noise should interfere significantly with an individual’s right to enjoy their home life. It has to be more than just a little bit disruptive or annoying.

Unsurprisingly, during the pandemic, when hospitality venues were required to close their businesses, there was a significant drop in complaints made against them, which then began to rise.

In terms of abatement notices, four of 11 haven’t issued a single abatement notice in the past four years, where Sheffield and Dublin issued the most notices in 2023, having made two.

So what does this mean?

Well for one, it shows that the council effectively protects hospitality venues and successfully manages the influx of complaints they receive by not escalating them to abatement notices.  

But that isn’t the whole picture, and black-and-white statistics don’t account for the impact this will have on hospitality venues when a complaint is made.

Speaking about how this trend can negatively impact the hospitality sector, speaking to GigPig, the CEO of the NTIA, Michael Kill, said: “This is a long-standing issue, and I don't think anyone understates it.

“Major cities and towns across the country are confronted with noise abatement notices somewhat in a way that is onerous given the circumstances we've come out of. In some respects, it’s a very oppressive regime of control from policing and local authorities to stem that issue.”

And it is a real issue, as across the 11 major cities, 3,059 complaints were made, a 6% increase from 2,875. However, noise abatement notices tell a different story, where eight abatement notices were issued in 2023, down from 16 four years ago. Granted, 11 of those notices were issued by Dublin City Council, but the point still stands that in regards to this issue, local councils strive for balance between the venue and the complainants.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic altered resident’s expectations, where many became accustomed to nightlife being shut and the lack of noise that came with it. For one, that meant there was nothing to complain about, but the rapid change in reopening the sector meant a surge in complaints followed.

This was reflected in the data, where all 11 cities experienced a drop off in 2020 during the pandemic, an average decrease of 52%.

On the significance of the pandemic, Kill added, “We went through a period during COVID where businesses were closed and life was not operating. Residents who had issues with noise had that quiet spell.

“As we reopened after COVID, nightlife came back with a vengeance, and those who had had the opportunity to have a quieter life, their position was exacerbated not only by the influx of people wanting to go out but also the lack of not being prepared in commitment for reopening industry.

"The contrast between the quiet period during the pandemic and the reinstatement of the entire economy meant local authorities didn’t take account of the hypersensitivity of local communities to noise.”

“Therefore, residents will see it as a much heavier impact on the community, which puts us in a very precarious position.”

It’s also worth noting that COVID-19 required hospitality venues to exclusively open outdoors for dining and drinking.This makes for a noisier environment for locals, and a large proportion of complaints came from noise outside the premises. Loud music inside the venue might be okay, but large groups of people shouting on the street aren’t.

What is the solution?

Data proves escalation from the local council to turn a complaint into notice is a rarity, and the statistics prove that they have the venue’s best interests at heart. But similar to the law, that’s an ambiguous statement as there are some exceptions to be made aware of.

Recent examples of venues to have faced uncertainty include the 200-year-old Compton Arms in Islington and the Night & Day Café in Manchester, where the latter has been championing some of the most talented emerging artists, including Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and Elbow.

The grassroots music venue endured an arduous three-year noise battle, which cast the future of the beloved venue in doubt. It was agreed to continue its club nights at a reduced level to ensure balance for the venue and the resident.

With noise complaints still rising, managing them is about balance between customer satisfaction and keeping the peace with your neighbours. And that balancing act comes to how long you facilitate live music. Guests will always want that ‘one more song’, but without concluding live entertainment by 11 pm, is when disturbances in a residential area start to begin.

It’s clear that one resident can complain enough to shut down a whole business and plunge its future into doubt, but the one silver lining is the Agent of Change principle, recently written into the act.

Simply, if a hospitality venue has been bringing music to the local area for a long time, and there are new residential buildings nearby, the council can’t disregard venues existing interests. It goes along the lines of ‘I was here first’.

But the law isn’t that simple, and to ensure a sustainable change for the hospitality sector, Mike Kill suggested: “It's important to recognise that we haven't learnt our lessons from the licensing and planning relationship, and driving towards residential space in towns and cities, and the lack of understanding around mitigation when we talk about cohabitation and particularly around Agent of Change.

“Our challenge at the moment is we need to move as quickly as possible. However, legislative instruments around Agents of Change are very slow. With the effective change or transition with residential spaces or businesses, we come up with these issues, which are a legacy of problems fought tooth and nail.”

“And some of them we lose businesses over,” Kill added.

“We need protection for those businesses. At some point, we need to work out a system using Agent of Change, using heritage protection to start to consider businesses in the right way. At the moment, because of the requirement for residential spaces, there is a drive to give them as much leeway as possible from a development perspective, which compromises businesses.”

“We need to work on that, and it's such a shame that it's come to this.”

That cooperative approach between operators, licensing and planning departments will set the framework for a sustainable future for the hospitality industry.

The future of hospitality and live entertainment depends on finding a sustainable balance between residents, venues, and local authorities. A cooperative approach, with clear legislation, is essential to sustain the future of the hospitality and nightlife sector.