Campaigners Fear For Brighton Live Music Venues

Music fans have started a campaign to protect live venues in Brighton after fresh plans were submitted to build flats on top of an office block in the city.

The building at 125 Queen’s Road is close to three venues – the Hope and Ruin, the Rossi Bar and the Folklore Rooms at the Quadrant.

The campaigners are concerned that if the flats are approved and built, residents could complain about noise from the existing venues and possibly even bring about their closure.

A London company called Haysport Properties submitted a planning application to Brighton and Hove City Council for 125 Queen’s Road, Brighton, last October.

The application was for an extension on the front of the seventh floor to create a new two-bedroom flat with roof terrace.

Haysport also wanted to build an extra storey for two more two-bed flats.

The plans also propose an extension on the front on the fifth and sixth floors and an infill of the lightwell from the first to fifth floors to provide extra office space.

The front extensions were granted planning permission in June 2021, including the one-bedroom flat on the seventh floor.

That application was submitted in March 2021 — when pubs were closed during the coronavirus pandemic — and drew no objections.

The latest application effectively contains amendments to the company’s existing planning permission.

It comes two months after the Haysport Properties, the freeholder, withdrew an application to convert the office space into four one-bedroom and two two-bedroom flats, resulting in 169 objections.

Since last Tuesday (8 August), concerned music fans have submitted 129 of the 218 objections to the latest application by Haysport Properties but listed in the name of architects Brooks Murray on the council’s website.

The campaign to support the music venues has backing from pub and bar business Team Black Management which said:

"It’s disappointing because we’ve had quite a few meetings with the council and planning (officials)."

The company said that the council had adopted an “agent of change” policy to protect music venues from noise complaints.

The policy requires any scheme next to a live music venue to include appropriate measures to prevent noise complaints from being made.

Team Black said:

"A big development with a massive roof terrace is just really worrying.

"It’s great people are rallying around and it shows how much people care about live music venues in the city which is brilliant."

The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, shared her concerns about the application after the Music Venue Alliance contacted her.

She urged the council’s Planning Committee to “ensure that the importance of these venues are fully taken into consideration” as they “nurture new talent”.

Green councillor Ellen McLeay urged people to comment on the application by next Friday (18 August).

The councillor, who represents West Hill and North Laine, said:

"I am concerned to see this planning application back on the agenda.

"What’s more, despite its proximity to the Hope and Ruin, a noise survey has not been submitted with this application."

There is also no acknowledgement of the ‘agent of change’ planning principle which works to protect already existing venues from complaints due to new developments.

"This application for a residential development is therefore unfit for purpose.

"We need to protect venues like the Hope and Ruin from being put at risk by new developments like this.

"We also want to protect future residents from buying into a development that was not fit for purpose to begin with."

A respected champion of new music in Brighton and beyond, Melita Dennett, who presents Tuesday Live on Radio Reverb, is one of the objectors to the latest planning application.

She shared her objection on the Hope and Ruin Facebook page, saying:

"Once again applications are made in the city centre which will adversely impact existing live music venues.

"This development is likely to jeopardise the future of at least two long-established live music venues (the Hope and Ruin and the Rossi Bar) and is inappropriate for a thriving and business-oriented city centre location.

"Brighton council cannot have it both ways, making a big deal out of promoting the city as a welcoming place for leisure and entertainment, while allowing detrimental developments to jeopardise a valued and vital part of Brighton’s cultural infrastructure."

Another objection, anonymised on the council’s website, with details redacted, said:

"Three excellent grassroots music venues will be at risk from noise complaints if these flats go ahead.

"The venues host independent and up-and-coming bands and are vital to Brighton’s music scene.

"I visit these venues regularly and am concerned that no noise survey has been submitted with the planning application.

"Brighton’s reputation of being a centre for new music will be at risk if this goes ahead and it will be a huge loss to the city if anything happens to these venues."

Other objectors have compared the situation with that faced by former music venues Blind Tiger and the Freebutt which closed after noise complaints from new neighbours.

Brooks Murray director Stephanie Brooks said:

"Our client (and ourselves) are well aware of the lively live music scene in the street and feel that this adds to the attraction of living in this part of the town centre and would not want to jeopardise those venues in any way.

"The flats will be rented on a commercial basis and future tenants will be well aware of the music venues.

"It is worth noting that the flats are at the very top of the building, well away from the street noise, and as the drawings show, the new floor will also be set back.

"As far as I am aware the current residents in the building have made no complaint regarding the music.

"We see no conflict between the uses – and indeed, as the local authority have already granted permission for flats in the building, neither do they.

"We are very disappointed that there have been objections to the proposals which will provide decent flats in a highly sustainable location as part of a plan to revamp and regenerate the whole building including the shop fronts."

The site is on the edge of both the North Laine Conservation Area and West Hill Conservation area.

To view and comment on the application, visit the planning portal on the council’s website and search for BH2022/03428.