Neighbours object to hotel’s 3am drinks plan
NEIGHBOURS living next to Cardiff’s Exchange Hotel have complained about the new owners’ plan to sell alcohol late at night.
The hotel’s future lay in question after its previous owners, Signature Living, went into administration in May this year.
The Exchange Hotel, in Mount Stuart Square, Butetown, is now owned by Eden Grove Properties, after a deal was struck in August.
Eden Grove is applying for a premises licence to sell alcohol at the hotel, off and on the premises, until 3am seven nights a week.
But residents living in Mount Stuart Square have complained they have already suffered from the prolonged building work on the GradeII listed hotel.
Cardiff council’s licensing committee will vote whether to grant the premises licence at a public meeting on September 18. A report to that meeting included several comments from unnamed people living near to the Exchange Hotel, objecting to the licence.
One resident said: “While I understand this may seem trivial issues, this has had huge impacts for us as property owners.
“I, for example, have not opened my bedroom blinds in years because of the builders being at eye-level, and I often received homophobic abuse from them after it became clear I lived with a same-sex partner.
“Construction work combined with all the other noise pollution from the hotel has impacted on the mental health of some residents, and for me has tarnished what should have been an exciting time after buying my first property.”
Another resident complained about parking lost to builders, and called for an earlier closing time. They said: “Parking for visitors has been almost completely lost to the Coal Exchange site. Noise had been constant, until the company ran out of funds. Litter and dirt has had an impact on neighbours’ lives.
“If all licences were restricted to before midnight then the application would be more appropriate for what is now a residential area. The late hours applied for seem more relevant to a nightclub than a hotel in an important, historically significant building.”
A third resident highlighted how Cardiff Bay has suffered from drunken revellers recently as the coronavirus lockdown was relaxed, and claimed the licence at the Exchange Hotel could add to those problems.
Ashley Govier, the former Cardiff councillor behind Eden Grove, said the hotel was simply replacing the licence held by the former owners, which had lapsed.
Mr Govier said the hotel needed a licence to be able to open, save jobs, allow planned weddings to go ahead, and so the building work can finally come to an end.