PROPER Sound in Macclesfield has been given the go-ahead to extend its licensing hours to 11pm at weekends but only until 9pm during the week.
The store and bar, which had been licensed to sell alcohol from 10am to 7.30pm every day of the week and host a few events up to 9pm, applied to Cheshire East Council to extend those hours to 11pm Monday to Sunday.
Owner Lucie Wright said she feared going out of business if she had to rely on just the daytime trade.
Following objections from two people relating to disturbance to residents living in flats above the popular venue, the council’s Licensing Act sub-committee decided to vary the licence so alcohol can now be sold from 10am to 9pm Sunday to Thursdays and between 10am and 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Proper Sound is a unique coffee shop and bar on Chestergate which sells records and other goods.
Ms Wright told last week’s hearing: “Nobody's coming in in the daytime and then it gets to half seven and I get an influx of people coming because they are around making their way down through the other bars and we're complementing each other and I'm having to literally turn money away, which is greatly needed.”
She said that was why she had applied to extend the licence.
Ms Wright said she had invested heavily in Proper Sound and ‘it's a really nice place to go, creates a nice atmosphere and it's just not offensive at all - it just needs to be able to evolve’.
Ward councillor Liz Braithwaite (Lab), who was one of the objectors and was also representing a resident, said the applicant had mentioned keeping the business going but it is up for sale.
Ms Wright said: “I have to be able to make it a viable business to sell it… You can't sell something that's not worth selling.”
Some of the debate focused around the courtyard area, where customers can drink and smoke.
The meeting was told environmental health had agreed a condition whereby background music should be turned off at 7.30pm and the courtyard closed by 9pm.
Cllr Braithwaite asked whether the courtyard policy was enforceable.
She said environmental health had said the courtyard was like a ‘chimney’.
“So you do get smoke and the noise from voices channelling up into residents’ windows,” she said.
Ms Wright said customers respected the courtyard rules.
Committee member Cllr John Place (Bollington, Lab) asked whether there had been any noise complaints relating to the bar itself, other than the courtyard.
Environmental health officer Margaret Preston said: “Some of the DJ events which had taken place in the past were borderline in the sense we were minded, yes they could have caused a statutory nuisance.
“We have had noise monitoring equipment in the resident’s property… it wasn’t sufficient to substantiate it as a statutory nuisance under our legislation. Yes there was disturbance.”
She said that’s why they had had further talks with Ms Wright so she could continue to operate without excessive impact on residents, hence the control on the courtyard.
The hearing took place last Tuesday (April 16) and the decision notice was made public today.
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