New Eastbourne bar facing noise complaints from neighbours

On Thursday (June 9), an Eastbourne Borough Council licensing sub-committee weighed an application to vary the conditions of a licence covering the Next Door Bar in Bolton Road.

The application, from the council’s own Environmental Health, asked the committee to alter the bar’s existing licence, preventing it from using its garden areas after 11pm.

The request follows a series of noise complaints from residents about loud music and conversations emanating from the bar, since it opened its doors for the first time late last year.

Environmental Health officers told councillors that they had recorded loud noises in the area after investigating these complaints and had issued the bar’s premises holder, Mandeep Singh, with a warning letter in March.

Even so, officers said loud noises had been recorded in the area on a number of dates in April, resulting in the calls for the licence to be reviewed.

Residents, who also attended the hearing, supported these calls, saying the noise had become intolerable.

The bar’s licence holder, Mandeep Singh, told the sub-committee he wanted to work with residents to address their concerns around noise and argued he had already made several changes to mitigate disturbance.

He also spoke of long term plans to double-glaze all of the bar’s doors and windows to further dampen noise.

However, he went on to ask the committee not to require the front garden to be closed from 11pm as he felt it could impact trading at the premises during its ‘most important’ period.

He also suggested that it was unclear whether the noise being complained of was from his premises, pointing to the number of other late night premises in Bolton Road. He also highlighted that the premises, while it had been a restaurant immediately prior to his opening of Next Door Bar, had been a late-night licenced premises since 2005.

After hearing from all parties, the sub-committee retired to consider their decision in private. Their decision is expected to be published within the next five working days.