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Action call on noisy pubgoers
Licensing chiefs are accused of ‘living in denial’ about scale of problems
LICENSING chiefs have been accused of “living in denial” about noise from drunks terrorising residents in the West End.
Ron Whelan, chairman of the Mayfair Action Group, has hit out at the council’s latest consultation on licensing.
He said: “The council is in complete denial about the presence of 100,000 or so drunken young people on the streets of the West End. The most significant problem for residents in the West End is noise created by the customers, who are often drunk, of licensed premises.”
He added: “The council claims to have an effective noise and anti-social behaviour inspectorate. But I ask what they are doing to measure noise in the West End.”
David Bieda, of the Soho Society, said: “Unfortunately Westminster’s consultation on their licensing statement concentrates on crime rather than public nuisance. Soho was declared a stress area as long ago as 1993 with a commitment to tackle noise issues – have they risen or fallen in Old Compton Street and surrounds since then?”
Ulrike Schmidt, who lives in Berwick Street above the Endurance pub, Soho, said: “There is screaming and hollering and smashing of glasses. I cannot invite people round in the evening the noise is so bad. If people say ‘well don’t live in the West End then’ – I say why have council homes here if it is not fit for purpose? I have lived here for 11 years and I say to the council you need your locals or what else have you got?”
The council’s environmental health manager Andrew Ralph had told the West End Extra a fortnight ago that: “Licensing inspectors are out on the streets every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in the West End to monitor and keep a close eye on licensed premises.”
This week he said: “We do not use equipment to measure noise. If we receive a complaint we would speak to the person in charge of the premises at the time and ask them to take action. Complaints do not result in an immediate visit.
He added: “Until the licensing act came into force we could only tackle noise which was a ‘statutory nuisance’ – that is to say noise above a certain level when heard from inside residents’ homes – now we are also able to do something about noise from outside premises if these persistently amount to a ‘public nuisance’.” |
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