More than 1,000 people sign petition as Bridgnorth blues bar hits a sour note with neighbours
A Bridgnorth blues bar could face closure following complaints from neighbours about the noise of live music at the venue.
Ashley Edwards, the owner of Riverside Blues Cafe and Music Rooms, has launched a petition - signed by more than 1,000 people - to keep the venue open, after Shropshire Council served it with an abatement notice.
Mr Edwards said the venue used to have live music between 9pm and 10.45pm on Friday and Saturday nights. The venue is also open during the day to serve food.
Shropshire Council confirmed it had been dealing with complaints from neighbours since the venue opened.
Mr Edwards said: "We have tried to make changes, we used to have live music on Friday and Saturday. We used to have three hours of live music a week, and shut at 11pm. We have stopped doing it on a Friday night now.
"If we reduced our opening hours it would have such a huge affect on my business, that I would have to lose staff and close the business down. I have already had to lose three members of staff due to us being so quiet now. The rest of my staff are worried they will lose their jobs."
Disturbance
Karen Collier, Shropshire Council's regulatory services operations manager, said: "Officers initially approached the business to see if advice and support could be given to resolve the problem.
"Unfortunately, despite attempts by the proprietor to make changes to reduce noise levels, these are still very significantly causing disturbance to neighbours to the extent that officers have concluded that the live music is causing a 'statutory nuisance' and as such, have served an abatement notice.
"A review of the licence has also been requested to protect these residents from unreasonable disturbance, including their ability to continue to use their homes as they had previously done for many years prior to the new business coming into existence.
"The premises were taken over as a café selling food and hot drinks and officers feel, given the fabric and situation of the building, it is realistically only suited to that type of use – indeed, there has been no planning permission to change to a public house with associated playing of music."
To see the petition, visit you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/keep-live-music-alive
