We don’t need to tell any of you, our beloved regular readership base this, but on the off chance some goofball has stumbled onto here in between browsing real estate listings, cop this for a bit of hot advice:
If you move next door to a pub and then get shitty when it behaves like a pub, you are a fool of the absolute highest order.
The Harold Park Hotel in the Sydney suburb of Forest Lodge has had a long-running Sunday acoustic slot knocked on its head by the City of Sydney council following a single noise complaint made by a resident who moved into the area a mere two weeks prior.
The pub, which has been running the Sunday evening acoustic sessions in its courtyard for the past six years, confirmed as much in a post made to Facebook a few days ago.
It’s important to note that the music wasn’t full band or outrageously amplified; rather, just a solo or couple of people with acoustic guitars calmly strumming out a few tunes on Sunday evenings.
Pub owner William Ryan, who operates the 137-year-old establishment, stated his disappointment at the move given how low-impact the nature of the music played is.
“It’s upsetting that one person can ruin it for the greater good. I’ve had thousands and thousands of Facebook posts and tweets and personal letters and phone calls about the support for the music on a Sunday afternoon.”“I’m not talking about playing heavy metal until three in the morning… It’s appropriate low-risk music and I’d like to think that’s a sensible policy.”
It should be stated that while it is somewhat unusual for a city council to act so decisively on the back of one single noise complaint, in this case there are issues to do with the pub’s development consent conditions, which do not allow for live music to be played in the pub’s courtyard area.
Despite this, the Sunday afternoon tunes have been held almost continuously for six years without incident.
Noise complaints from well-to-do home owners and residential developments in gentrified areas are a constant threat for pubs operating with live music. In Melbourne, for example, it got so bad that state legislators introduced the protective ‘Agent of Change‘ laws, which assert that new developments in the area of established live music venues are responsible for noise-proofing, not the pub itself. It also provides greater protection from new residents moving in to the vicinity of a pre-existing live music pub. Essentially, it’s a “the pub was here first” law.
The City of Sydney council has confirmed they have been in contact with the Harold Park Hotel to discuss amending the pub’s development consent conditions to allow music to played in the courtyard.
The current venue agreement permits music to be played anywhere else inside the pub.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Harold Park Hotel/Facebook.
