Landlord of Birmingham pub The Rainbow attacks council over apartments

Mar 25 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

The landlord of a Digbeth pub which is under threat because of complaints about it being too noisy has hit out at the council for allowing developers to build flats near by without considering music venues in the area.

Kent Davis, landlord of The Rainbow, met with Birmingham City Council’s Environmental Health Department to discuss noise complaints against the venue on Digbeth High Street.

He said the pub’s survival was “on a knife-edge” as, if it received one further noise complaint which was then upheld by the council, it would be served with a Noise Abatement Order that would require major works to be carried out on the venue in order to mitigate the noise nuisance.

The Rainbow, which recently paid £2,000 to carry out its own independent noise survey because of the complaints, said it would not be able to afford the works and would have to close down if it lost an appeal.

Mr Kent, who believes the complaints come from just one person in the nearby Abacus apartments, said while he had no issue with Environmental Health, he was angry at the council’s planning department for not requesting the developers of the block to carry out a noise survey when they applied for planning permission in 2003.

“We should not even be having this conversation with Environmental Protection, who we are working with to find a solution to all of this.

“But even from the residents’ point of view, they should not be in a position to make complaints as those flats should not have been built in the way they were.

“There was no noise survey done and we are reaping the effects of that now - Environmental Protection are having to bear the brunt of it in the same way as we are.”

According to its own guidelines for residential developments Birmingham City Council requires any organisation applying for planning permission to arrange a