A Cornwall Council meeting has heard about noise complaints from neighbours of a popular Falmouth pub.
A licensing sub-committee has made a decision about an application to vary the premises licence so background recorded music can be played in the beer garden of Fives Cyderhouse at Grove Place, Falmouth. The pub, formerly Five Degrees West, is run by Cyderhouse Co Ltd, a hospitality subsidiary of Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm.
The application received seven representations from people in support and five against, who raised concerns about noise from the pub's beer garden.
While some said use of the beer garden was integral for the popular pub and created a great atmosphere, one of those against the application wrote: "We have complained numerous times about the music they have played in breach of their licence for the last four years. It's been hugely disruptive to us and our kids."
Five's manager John Newman said the current premises licence is for inside only and so they wanted to be "transparent" and include the pub's outdoors areas, which are already used for temporary events such as Falmouth Week, the World Cup, Falmouth's sea shanty and oyster festivals, Pride and Freshers Week.
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"I know some people have raised concerns about the noise level potential of the garden areas being licensed, but our intention is not to have any live music out there," he told the meeting.
Laura Clerehugh, from Healeys, offered "absolute clarity" that it would just be workplace background music at a reasonable level to allow "a customer-facing vibe" in the back garden and wouldn't go past 11pm. "We just want the beer garden back again where people can enjoy a pint with background music."
The meeting heard from Chloe and Alex Watkins, whose home backs on to the pub.
Mr Watkins said music could be heard in their property even with the windows closed. He believed the 11pm cut-off would be too late, particularly during the week and for neighbours who have children. Mrs Watkins added that the noise from the pub is of a "very loud volume" and is heard throughout their house.
They moved into their property a year and a half ago because it's a "sought after residential area", but she stressed they weren't "anti-pub" and said they liked Five's pizzas, "but it is very noisy", not just from music but shouting from people in the beer garden.
"Speaking to our neighbours who have been residents for a long time, this has been an ongoing issue for a long time which apparently has been getting increasingly worse," added Mrs Watkins.
Another neighbour was due to speak in opposition of the licence application but didn't appear at the meeting.
The pub's management agreed a suggestion by the council's environmental protection team that all speakers for background music should be below the boundary wall level to prevent a nuisance to neighbours and music should be kept to a level that it is possible to have a conversation and be heard, without disturbance to neighbouring premises.
The rear area should also be closed by 11pm for the sale or consumption of alcohol in the beer garden.
Mr Newman offered to meet neighbours and said he would be available if there were any concerns in the future.
Ms Clerehugh added: "It's important that we need to get across that it's the other 90 per cent of the time [outside of temporary events] that we need to be respectful and mindful of our background music volume. We would be very happy to have a neighbours' mailing list where we can share any temporary events we are planning."
The sub-committee granted the variation of the premises licence.
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Falmouth Pub Vows to Be Mindful After Noise Complaints