Yahoo News Clayton bar applies for change of use from restaurant after noise complaints
The owner of a township bar is seeking to regularise the planning status of his venue after complaints from neighbours. In July last year Oliver Houghton opened the Crow’s Nest Bar in Clayton-le-Moors.
Now it has emerged that the 3 Barnes Square premises only have planning permission to operate as a restaurant following complaints about noise and nuisance. Now Mr Houghton – who runs the bar with his father John – has applied to Hyndburn Council for a backdated change of use to public house.
The application form said: “We have always operated as a bar. Our customer base is usually middle age to older and we have plenty of seating.
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“We only ever have artists or bands on at most twice a month which are always shut off before 11pm. On the weekend we are always closed for midnight and we have signage telling everyone to respect the neighbours and we find they do- this can be backed up by CCTV footage.
“It would be a great shame if we weren’t approved or had to change how we operate as we find we have given people of Clayton-le-Moors a new space for them to socialise and we have been told it has helped many people with their mental health due to the games nights we offer which brings in people that wouldn’t usually feel comfortable in coming out. We don’t operate as a club, or a dancing venue though you might get the odd person out of their seat.
“All we are asking for is to acknowledge that we have done everything we can to cooperate with the council and all the recent complaints that have come through are anonymous and so therefore should be dismissed, especially after we have now proven from multiple occasions that the allegations of noise and disruption are completely false. We operate as a mostly seated bar as both upstairs and downstairs have an adequate amount of tables and chairs.”
A Hyndburn Council spokesman said: “We are aware of complaints relating to noise nuisance and are in communication with both the person responsible on site and local residents. We have since received a retrospective change of use application for the site.
“This application will be reviewed and considered through our normal planning processes.”
The bar employs one full-time worker and two part-time staff.
Mr Houghton said: “When we transitioned the alcohol licence we told the council we were planning to run it as a bar not a restaurant. We wer never once told we needed to change the planning status.”
