Pub told to keep noise down after live music events cause concern

The Waggon and Horses in Caythorpe has held live music events on Bank Holiday weekends for many years, and when new managers Mark and Anne Louise Inman took over the pub, the tradition continued.

But over May Bank Holiday, an officer from the environmental health department at South Kesteven District Council visited the village and, at the time, deemed the music to be excessive and that no efforts were made by the pub to contain the noise.

Then on Friday, September 3, Anne Louise received an email from the Environmental Health department stating it had received a video from a resident showing a band playing indoors over the August bank holiday weekend with the door open, which was impacting on the neighbours.

The email stated the environmental health department would be opposing any further temporary event notices the pub applied for in order to host live music events, and was considering serving an abatement notice on further entertainment – a decision which would be made with their legal team.

A spokesman for South Kesteven District Council confirmed there is currently no ban on live music events at the Waggon and Horses, and that any such decision would be made by the licensing committee, which the Environmental Health department would report to, as would a number of other agencies.

Anne Louise insisted they do take measures and use their own decibel monitoring devices to ensure noise levels stay within legal parameters.

She felt they were being unfairly treated, as on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend the band finished playing by 10.30pm, and by 8pm on the Sunday: “in order to keep the peace”.

She said: “When you’re trying to run a business in a small village we’ve got to keep things running, and people in the village always come and see the live music because it’s very popular.

“We’re also trying to help our local artists who’ve had no income over the past 18 months as they’ve not been able to play.”

Based on the warning, Anne Louise has decided to cancel their remaining live music events for the rest of the year as a precaution.

“It broke my heart, having to call our artist to tell him we were cancelling,” she said. They have cancelled the karaoke nights as well to avoid further aggravating the situation.

Anne Louise has opened a channel of communication with SKDC in the hope of reaching a compromise.