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The Assembly House |
New protests over pub live music plan
Fears of sleepless nights if gastropub's licence granted
A GASTROPUB is facing a second battle with its neighbours
after revealing plans to stage music in an upstairs function
room.
The Assembly House in Kentish Town Road caused panic among nearby
residents in November when it tried to win approval for a 2am
weekend licence. The application was turned down by councillors
after warnings that the new deal would lead to late night disruption.
Now, the pub – one of the oldest in Camden – has provoked
more protests with plans to refurbish a first-floor room for
use as a second bar and live music.
Writer and historian Gillian Tindall, who lives in nearby Leighton
Road, said: “The potential for noise nuisance emanating
from the upper floor room is, if anything, greater than that
from an ground floor room. Given the pub’s status as a
Grade-II listed building, both internally and externally, it
is hard to see how soundproofing could be effectively installed.”
She added: “It is not at all clear how often the additional
room would be used. If it is intended to hire it out only for
occasional events that is one thing, but if it were to become
a regular music venue this would have highly undesirable implications
for the general peace, public order, safety and cleanliness
of the neighbourhood. There is strenuous local resistance against
its being turned into the sort of venue which attracts the kind
of crowds that go to the Forum on the far side of Highgate Road.”
Many of the objectors are among the group of protesters who
convinced licensing chiefs to pull the plug on the pub’s
plans for a late licence last year.
Guy Culshaw, whose home is closest to the pub, said: “This
is the fourth time we have had to respond to an application
from the Assembly House – enough is enough.
“We have experience of when the Assembly House has played
amplified music on previous occasions. My wife and I complained
to the Camden Council Noise Prevention Team on two separate
occasions.
“On one occasion the team couldn’t believe we had
telephoned from within our own house. The noise was so loud
they thought we had telephoned from inside the Assembly House.”
He added: “We have two sons are under the age of four who
need to sleep during the day as well as during the evening.
Having DJs playing next door will disrupt their sleeping patterns
as well as ours.”
Camden Council’s own environmental health department has
also raised concerns and has asked managers to explain how they
will insulate the function room.
Bar manager Emily Corbett told a licensing hearing in November
that she had turned the bar around, transforming a pub which
once attracted rowdy football fans for live match screenings
into a more civilised food-based bar.
She said: “We are not turning it into a nightclub or a
music venue. We want people to come in and have some food and
some drinks.”
The new application will be discussed and judged by councillors
at a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday.
A statement from Greene King – the brewery which holds
the bar’s licence – said: “The licence holder
is to hold meetings with local residents. The licence holder
is to provide and publish contact details of the manager to
assist any local residents making a complaint and having any
issues of concern resolved.” |
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