‘I’m not an idiot - I’m being kept awake till 4am’
AS 50,000 SIGN PETITION AGAINST POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF NOISE-ROW VENUE, NEIGHBOUR WHO COMPLAINED SAYS...
A CITY centre resident at the centre of a row over noise from historic venue Night and Day has hit back at critics declaring: “I’m not an idiot!”
The M.E.N. revealed yesterday how the landmark cafe, which helped launch the careers of artists such as Elbow and Arctic Monkeys, claims to be under threat of closure after receiving a Noise Abatement Notice from the council.
It follows complaints from a neighbour in a property adjoining the venue on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter. Night and Day is this weekend due to celebrate 30 years since its launch.
But management took to social media this week to reveal the abatement notice may leave it unable to operate and asked people to sign a petition opposing the move.
More than 50,000 people have signed after the campaign was endorsed by figures such as singer of The Charlatans, Tim Burgess.
Now the flat-owner at the centre of the dispute has approached the M.E.N. to give his side of the story.
The man, who declined to be named, bought the flat last year and says he did so in full knowledge that it was near Night and Day. He says he is a long-term Manchester resident who understands the reality of living in the city centre.
The man claims to have spent at least £17,000 so far on insulation to reduce the noise impact on his property but insists Night and Day aren’t playing their part by keeping to licensing conditions.
“The issues I face are not really the gigs – it’s with the club nights,” he said. “Different DJs running until 3am at least twice a week – but they can run until 4am.
“This can be so loud that the bass vibrates everything in the flat – even the water in the toilet is rippling!
“My new nextdoor neighbours complained for me to turn it down during a club night – I showed them it was travelling all the way through my flat into theirs.
“Nobody can escape the fact that this is a breach of their licensing objective ‘not to cause nuisance noise to neighbours’ that they as a business have signed that they will uphold.”
The M.E.N. was waiting for a response after contacting Night and Day about the resident’s claims. This is not the first time Night and Day has had a noise abatement notice, having been served one back in 2014.
The neighbour explained that he was living in the Northern Quarter before moving to his new address. He said: “I love Manchester and living in thriving Northern Quarter. I expect to hear loud noise, etc. “But I’m being kept awake until 4am and forking out almost £20,000 on insulation.”
The neighbour said he had been in discussion with Night and Day for over five months, and when the abatement was served, the said the bar was given the opportunity by the council to lower the volume or face the abatement notice. He said: “They are lovely folk with a thriving business that is the absolute heart of the music community. I’ve never asked for them to change anything that would be within their licensing objective. “The petition just goes to show how much they mean to the community – I’d be the first to sign if the shoe was on the other foot! But in reality, a petition will not close a noise abatement. That’s not the way the law works.”