Loud music from commercial premises - a query

Does anyone know what the rules are regarding the volume of music played in the outdoor gardens of pubs and restaurants?

Has anyone had any luck asking businesses to turn it down after a certain time at night?

I don’t want to make a fuss because I love the business in question, but noise travels, and the music volume every night midweek is keeping me awake. It’s a Tuesday night and I have loud music travelling quite some distance due to its volume, through all my open windows.

If it’s a pub, outside music should be off at 10pm for most venues.

My neighbour asked our local pub to turn it down. They took absolutely no notice and often had live music until gone midnight in the time before covid although it’s a residential area. Since covid it’s been different but I’m sure things will go back to normal soon now all remaining restrictions are lifted.

Will it be in the conditions of their licence? I’ve been in plenty of pubs where we have been ushered inside as it was past X o’clock which I assume was tied down to regulations. Can you look up what it says in their licence, assume this is on the council website somewhere? Once you know that you can decide how to proceed.

Ooh I didn’t know licenses were public access?

In fairness I was guessing about that, but when they apply I thought those were public so might be viewable somewhere?

I think they need to be prominently displayed on the premises. No idea about online.

It doesn’t look like the Lewisham website has them searchable like some other councils do.

You can contact the licensing team at licensing@lewisham.gov.uk

If you like the business, then first steps might be just going in one day when it’s quiet, checking out the setup, open windows/doors etc, speakers and having a quiet word about it with the manager/licensee.

It might be that it gets turned up but they’ve had no complaints so don’t appreciate the nuisance level it’s causing.

Lewisham-20Licensing-20Policy-20-20November-20-202015.pdf (1.1 MB)

For a list of licensed premises -

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrP4o2r6fdgCz4AIGdLBQx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzMEdnRpZANDMjAxNl8xBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1626888748/RO=10/RU=https%3A%2F%2Flewisham.gov.uk%2F-%2Fmedia%2Ffiles%2Fimported%2Flist-20of-20current-20licensed-20premises-20gambling.ashx/RK=2/RS=E7UGb6dIjxfxixZq9ER.34SEn2g-

They know full well not to keep music loud especially in a residential area. A bit like lorries loading they have allocated time slots. Though it’s not the same but it’s noise. They have to have some sort of sound proofing to limit this.
Don’t get me wrong it’s nice to let hair down have some fun but when drinks and happy vibes roll!!
The council should be doing more about this sort of think amongst other issues. We do pay our council tax for our council to carry out such duties. I suppose I am wrong and the lack of money going to wrong depts for silly unnecessary stuff and so forth. It’s all a mess and lack of communication etc
Oh Stupid me what do I know!!

Simpler link: https://lewisham.gov.uk/-/media/files/imported/licensingregister-website.ashx

Looking at the number of entries in red, it’s sad that so many seem to have been suspended, presumably as businesses have closed.

This doesn’t give conditions of the licence though, but presumably that’s basically what’s in your previous post above (Loud music from commercial premises - a query - #10 by Anotherjohn).

That looks like only a list of gambling licences

Absolutely.

The List of Licensed Premises shows the type of license and the Licensing Policy documents can be used to cross-reference.

With pubs etc, it’s all about what’s reasonable in a particular location so, if it’s very close to people’s homes, the council can limit or prohibit outdoor use - which seems fair enough to me - because just because a premises gets a license shouldn’t mean that its residential neighbours should suddenly have to suffer just because ‘it would be nice’ for drinkers to be able to go outside to drink, smoke and talk [increasingly loudly as the night goes on] right outside people’s living-room or bedroom window or their patio etc.

I looked n respect of the pub I mentioned but haven’t been able to find the details online. It’s also possible for an extended licence to be granted for one off events/parties etc that are different from the main licence.

I did approach them, a bit nervously, and having initially said they’d address it, they haven’t. Same again tonight. Having to wait til half midnight at the earliest to get peace and quiet* is not ok.

• I mean, relative - I live on a main road. But I knew that when I moved here. I did not expect hard rock serenades at 23:58

I once contacted the council about something similar. They sent me a diary to complete: ‘Diaries should be returned as soon as sufficient entries have been made to show the typical pattern of the nuisance’.

If I was you, and given the amount of time I would expect enforcement to take, I would at least start down this road now. If things change you don’t need to submit the diary etc.

Fair dos on your part. Formal letter of complaint next mentioning that? But @Beige idea to start a nuisance diary won’t go amiss.

Many years ago I worked somewhere that had a mark notched on the volume dial which it wasn’t supposed to go above. Inevitably when it was quiet and a good song came on, it was ignored because from inside, it didn’t feel like any victims. A diary might help them identify if any rogue staff who are ignoring any measures - assuming that is that any nights have been quieter.