Chesterfield pub owners slam “frustrating” and ‘unjustified’ council notice banning them from hosting outdoor music

Jason ‘Jay’ Davies and his wife Sally Ruane-Davies own the Neptune Beer Emporium on St Helen’s Street. One of the main reasons they took it on last year, Jason said, was its reputation as a music venue.

They hosted several bands outside over the Queen’s Jubilee weekend, shortly after opening in May 2022, and were subsequently visited by Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC) – which had received complaints regarding live music.

Jason said: “They said they’d had complaints and asked us to talk through what we do. We told them we would have a band outside and some ambient music. They asked if we could stop playing drums and bring the music inside around 8.00pm-9.00pm.

“We didn’t play any more bands outside last year. We’ve had one outside this year, a female singer and a guitarist. We did exactly what was advised verbally. We had an amplified acoustic session outside with no drums or bass, and brought the music in at 8.00pm.”

Shortly after, CBC served the pub with an abatement notice – something that Jason said was done without any prior communication.

“A couple of weeks later we were given an abatement notice. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve had no consultation from CBC or environmental health.

“It doesn't seem justified. There’s no information at all and they’ve not taken any readings. We take readings every time we have a band on, that’s a big thing for us.

“I’ll sit outside the pub with my phone doing decibel readings and ensure that we’re looking at around 60-70 – anything above that may be unreasonable. We have all the doors and windows shut when we’re indoors, we do everything the council has asked us to do.”

Jason added that they were now appealing the abatement notice, with a court date set for September 4.

“If we don’t appeal it, if we want to put a band on for a bank holiday, or have a BBQ and an amplified acoustic set, we won’t be able to do anything.

“The fact that we’ve had no consultation doesn't seem fair. We should’ve been given seven days or something to discuss it. They came last year and said everything was fine. It’s just one event that we’ve had this year and it finished at 8.00pm, so we really don’t get it.”

With their outdoor music events being planned around bank holidays, Jason said it was difficult to understand the council’s response – and stressed the impact the situation was having on him.

“We might have had about four events outside last year, and they were all based around a bank holiday. The Queen’s Jubilee was a big one, and we did have two days of bands, but there was a three day bank holiday. It’s not night after night or weekend after weekend, it just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s been very emotional for me. There’s a lot going off and we do it all for the pub’s sake and for the community. It just seems wrong. I would’ve been happy if they had some communication with us.

“All they’ve said to us is that the building in front of us is too big, so the sound is bouncing off it. That building has been there as long as the pub has been there so it’s a very poor excuse. The pub’s been there since 1860 so I doubt there’s anyone on the street that’s been there longer.”

Jason said the venue was important to the musicians who play there and those who come to experience live music – and highlighted the support they had received after launching a petition against the abatement.

“It’s very frustrating. We have a lot of musicians that come to play at the Neptune, young and old, different standards. We have an 8-year-old girl that comes up and plays on the open mic nights. We’re providing a community service, for musicians and people of all ages who want to watch music.

“We’re a very community-led pub. All the profit that we make from the pub goes straight back into the pub. We’ve soundproofed the pub and there’s an element of improvement that we’ve made.

“On the positive side, we set up an online petition and within 24 hours we had 650 signatures. Hopefully we get up to 1,000, let’s see if that has any weight for the appeal.

“It does bring a lot of people into the area, the pub is known for the music, the real ales and the Belgian beers. We feel like we’re doing something good, and then have been banned from doing it.”

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Councillor Martin Stone, CBC’s cabinet member for climate change, planning, and the environment, said: “After receiving noise complaints regarding a premises, the council is required to undertake a thorough assessment of the activities causing the complaints to try and resolve the issue. The assessment includes council officers attending the venue themselves to assess the activities that were leading to complaints, as well as taking noise recordings into consideration.

“When carrying out assessments such as this, officers must consider the level of disruption caused and how often the noise occurs. The assessment does not rely on decibel readings alone as the type of disturbance will vary due to the time of day and the type of music being played.

“In this instance, officers found that a noise nuisance was being caused by the performance of amplified music in the beer garden area. The noise was clearly audible and dominant across the surrounding area, therefore an abatement notice was served. This notice places a restriction on amplified music being played outside the premises only. No other restrictions have been placed on the activities within the premises.”

“The abatement notice is subject to an appeal.”