Resident Opinion

Live Music Venue Closures

Each month Discover brings you a hotly debated topic about issues important to the residents of the city. 

Why would you move into the centre of Brighton, only to complain about the noise from live music venues? That’s the same as getting into the sea and complaining that it’s wet. Of course it is. 

And yet, there are more and more examples of exactly this happening in our city, complaints from (generally) new residents who choose not to live in the quieter surrounding areas, but move in to the city centre, the very antithesis of quiet and moments later are complaining to the authorities about the noise from live music venues. 

This often causes a great deal of distress for the venue owners and staff who may either be closed down completely or have crippling restrictions bestowed upon them by the licensing committee. 

Take for example, The Hope and Ruin, a fabulous live music venue on Queens Road, a stone’s throw away from Churchill Square. Directly in the centre of town. A petition has been drawn up to prevent plans for a big housing development next door to them. The people concerned fear that should the development go ahead, the business may be in jeopardy from noise complaints. They are exercising their right to protest, with the thought that prevention is better than cure. 

Brighton is synonymous with live music venues that showcase a variety of genres – with everything from rock to drag. Collectively these establishments are the lifeblood of our eclectic population and a huge pull for economy boosting tourists. 

My question to prospective property buyers and renters is this. Ask yourself what it is you love about this vibrant city? I’m sure it’s not that you enjoy the peace and tranquility post 11pm. And if it is the quiet life you seek, perhaps consider choosing somewhere further afield, a quiet country residence or suburbia. 

The fact is we must all pull together to preserve the cultural fabric of the city we love, because every closure or license revocation is contributing to not only job loses, but a loss in the sense of community, the places to gather and share the music we are fortunate to be able to saturate ourselves in. 

These spaces must be allowed to endure for future generations. We can’t allow Brighton to emulate every other soulless city. So please, don’t move here if you can’t accept our way of life, we are hedonists through and through, so join the party, don’t try and kill it.

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Author: Ahmed Khalil