CHRISTCHURCH publican John Lovell is celebrating the renewal of his entertainment licence after close neighbours complained of noise nuisance.

But his victory comes at a price.

After a three-hour borough council licensing committee hearing, councillors told him he had to make the Thomas Tripp pub in Wick Lane as sound-proof as possible.

That means installing acoustic glazing, designing doors to keep the escape of sound to a minimum, providing an internal lobby, improving acoustic treatment of the ventilation system and putting up more signs exhorting customers to keep the noise down.

As an interim measure he has to provide a tamper-proof noise limiter set to 90 decibels inside the pub.

"I'm absolutely fantastic. Victorious, victorious. Common sense and justice prevailed. Thanks to my wife, my staff, and all the support I've had. I'm quite humbled by that," said Mr Lovell.

At the special licensing committee Leonard Whitney and Winifred Phillips who live in a house at Priory View Court objected to the renewal of the public entertainment licence.

They complained about the loudness of live bands and discos and about the sound of people enjoying themselves in the pub garden.

Mrs Phillips made an impassioned plea to the committee saying it was impossible to convey the impact of noise on the health and well-being of residents.

In addition to the music and people in the garden, she and Mr Whitney had to put up with noise at closing time, people quarreling, musical intruments being loaded into vehicles, beer bottles being dumped in bins and people urinating in the road.

"I have been threatened in my own home. I have had people urinating in my front door," she said.

Christchurch Borough Council environmental health officer Gary Smith said the words of the songs being sung in the pub were audible in Mr Whitney's and Mrs Phillips' home.

He had suggested various compromises, including shutting the garden at 9pm.

But police licensing officer Insp Richard Hudson said that would be a potential flashpoint. In a year police had only six complaints about noise relating to the premises, "the majority from Mrs Phillips".

First published: May 23