Digbeth pub expecting expecting noise abatement order

Jun 10 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

The Digbeth pub at the centre of a storm over music upsetting residents of nearby flats has received an email from Birmingham City Council telling it to expect a noise abatement order.

Following an event last Monday, the landlord of the Rainbow pub, in Digbeth, said the council’s Environmental Protection Unit had written to him saying it had witnessed a noise nuisance and that the pub should expect to receive a noise abatement order.

The issue has caused an outcry among the pub’s customers who believe the venue is paying the price for the decision to allow new residential developments in Digbeth without considering long-established music venues in the area.

The pub recently pledged to build a roof over its courtyard in a bid to stave off complaints about noise escaping from the venue, which the pub believes comes from just one resident in a nearby block of flats.

The Rainbow’s landlord Kent Davis said the complaint which triggered the email came from a resident in the Abacus Apartments.

He said: “We received an email saying a complaint was made about a noise nuisance last Monday for an event that finished just after 11pm and that the noise nuisance was witnessed by the Environmental Protection Unit.”

A Birmingham council spokesman confirmed it had received further complaints about the pub.

He said: “In the last week we have had two incidences of statutory noise nuisance emanating from the Rainbow so we are now considering out next course of action.”

The Rainbow has been in ongoing discussions with the council over the issue of an order and signed an undertaking to ensure that the volume of the music is kept down to a level which does not cause a statutory noise nuisance to residents nearby.

Mr Davis said the pub would contest any noise abatement order and was seeking advice from Careys nightclub in Coventry which faced a similar issue with newly-built flats but won its battle in court.

Meanwhile the pub is also waiting to hear the outcome of a licensing sub-committee meeting next week concerning under-age drinking at the pub’s sister venue, the Rainbow Warehouse, at an event last December.