Westminster Council has been the subject of various informal complaints from gay Soho businesses on social media in recent years, regarding their enforcement of bureaucracy that has been described as bordering on harassment.However, the council would argue it has a duty and remit to protect its residents from excess noise and late night disruption. But, as Chris Amos of Manbar launches a ‘Save Manbar’ campaign to contest what he describes as Westminster’s ‘unfair’ and ‘draconian’ actions against his venue, he questions whether the Council has an underlying motive to its moves. QX investigates further.
“We reached out to Westminster City Council ourselves,” says Chris Amos, owner of Manbar, describing when he first took over the formerly troubled venue at 79 Charing Cross Road. “We found the person in charge of the police and the Premises Licensing Inspector, and met up with them. We assured them we were going to do whatever it takes to work with the licensing objectives. We spent over £15,000 on a sound system that meant the venue was enveloped in sound at lower levels instead of being particularly loud, and we bought a new, improved sound limiter.
“But we had two noise complaints very close to each other from a tenant who lives two floors above Manbar when the new system was installed. This resulted in Westminster taking us to a tribunal to defend ourselves against the noise complaints. Since then they have been like a dog with a bone refusing to let go of an opportunity to close down another gay venue.
We enlisted a sound acoustic specialist and he made recommendations, which we took on board. Now, however, Westminster are refusing to agree the job is done and neither is the resident. I have even been in the flat; the Westminster City Council officer was in there one time doing a reading and has to ask his counterpart downstairs ‘is the music on?’ They had to switch off the fridge to hear it.”
In the interests of producing the fairest and most accurate article possible here, it has to be stated that Ben Scotchbrook of Westminster Council’s press office was unfailingly polite and helpful in putting together answers to our questions regarding this feature – a grace that QX has found palpably lacking in certain other London councils.
Regarding the current Manbar case, we were given the official statement by Andrew Ralph, Noise & Licensing Manager, as: “It is certainly true that, after measures had been taken to limit noise at Manbar, our officers tested levels and found them to be acceptable. However, after we were contacted again, our officers returned to find that the noise levels were far higher and amounted to a statutory nuisance. That is not acceptable.”
This sounds fair enough. Yet Amos has directed us to a particular of this case that Patrick Bangura, Environmental Health Officer, clearly states, when investigating the noise levels above Manbar on Tuesday 25th February, that he ‘knocked on [a flat] which was underneath the complainant’s flat and saw two men watching TV and not playing music.’
However, when Amos independently contacted the residents living in this flat underneath the complainant, one of them attested in a signed witness statement that both men were asleep at the time and ‘were woken by constant knocking at our front door.’
When I asked Westminster Council about this discrepancy, they replied that, “Any visits by our Noise Team are likely to be presented as evidence in this week’s hearings so it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment at this stage.”
Perhaps it seems like a niggling detail, but if the Council have misrepresented facts in their official statement then it justifiably throws into quandary how far their official line can be trusted. Westminster Council indeed have a duty to protect and uphold complaints from their residents. However, it is also conceivably important for all those who enjoy and love Soho, to ensure that its soul is not knocked out of it for the wrong reasons.
• The ‘Save Manbar’ campaign is available to sign at http://www.change.org/petitions/westminster-council-drop-the-noise-nuisance-case-against-manbar
• Read Chris Amos’ full interview regarding Westminster Council, and the Council’s responses to our own interview, at: qxmagazine.kinsta.cloud/blog-event/manbar-and-westminster/
Anyone who is reading this needs to support Manbar whether you drink in there or not. It’s quite clear this is nothing to do with noise pollution and everything to do with gay business bashing.
The Joiners Arms stands in sympathetic solidarity with Manbar. All our community should do the same. If you haven’t signed the petition, then just do it, now!