ALCOHOL AND RESIDENTIAL AREAS – A BITTER COCKTAIL?
Mike Weatherley – Member of Parliament for Hove and Portslade
With over 1,400 licensed premises, Brighton & Hove’s claim to having the most pubs in the country is much more than just an urban myth. The figure includes restaurants, off-licences, hotels too so the 250,000 people living in Brighton & Hove are certainly spoilt for choice – and at any hour too!
Brighton & Hove’s connection with pubs and alcohol is by no means new. It is interesting that Church Road and Western Road – two roads that have changed dramatically in recent years – were each home to large breweries. It is hard to imagine these huge buildings now, with their soaring chimneys pumping out smoke into the surrounding residential areas as noisy deliveries were taking place at all hours. Smoke and noise, albeit from entirely different sources, cause problems today of an entirely different nature.
The implementation of two particular pieces of legislation has resulted in a dramatic change to the way in which licensed premises and those living nearby interact. First came the Licensing Act 2003 which contained provisions for late-night opening times. It was argued at the time that staggered closing times might even lead to a reduction in noise levels and disturbances late at night. The reality, especially along Western Road, is quite different.
Secondly, the Health Act 2006 was introduced primarily as a means of restricting smoking in enclosed spaces. It is quite right that employees are free to work without having to inhale other people’s cigarette smoke. Nevertheless, an unintended consequence has been the transformation of our pavements into quite threatening and unpleasant smoking corridors, particularly at night.
Generally speaking, I am keen to support pubs as community hubs and I am a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group. In recent weeks, I have taken part in several debates in the House of Commons where pubs have featured. In the Future of Pubs debate, I highlighted the link between live music and successful pubs. I would certainly like to see more bands playing which, ultimately, attracts a good crowd. I also spoke at length in the Seaside Towns (Regeneration) debate and focused on the relationship between a successful tourist town and its night-time economy.
I should point out that I am not against pubs opening late per se and it may well be that many of the issues of concern can be overcome. It is essential though that those wishing to open later should do so after winning the trust of those living nearby. One such way to gain that trust is to embrace the Sound Approach scheme, a series of guidelines set out by the Hove-based Noise Abatement Society. That society is a national organisation with specific expertise relating to the Brunswick area. Their national headquarters is on Brunswick Terrace after all.
Sound Approach sets out a series of strict tests that should be applied to venues which promote live music. The scheme includes reference to acoustic measurements being taken before and after; unannounced inspections being made; and staff being trained in noise awareness.
I firmly believe that we should champion the responsible just as we should expose the unruly which is why I am especially keen to hear which establishments serving alcohol are being neighbourly along with which might need a little reminder of their responsibilities – mike.weatherley.mp@parliament.uk.
FOPA Annual General Meeting
Cornerstone Centre Saturday 8th January 2011
The Fourteenth Annual General meeting of the Friends of Palmeira and Adelaide will take place at the Cornerstone Centre at 11.30 am on Saturday 8th January 2011. The following relevant documents are attached:
If attending the Meeting, please print and bring these with you. Please also take a moment to read the Minutes and two Reports as these need to be agreed at the Meeting. If you are not able to open or read any of the attached documents, please let us know.
If not attending the Meeting, please deliver or post you subscription form, with payment, to the address shown; or make a payment online to the bank details shown. If you have an existing Standing Order, no action is necessary. The subscription remains at £5 per household.
It will greatly assist us if you would let us know if you intend to be at the Meeting.
12th December 2010An evening of Christmas shopping and festive fun
At Shelter, Western Road, Brighton - opposite Waitrose
This Wednesday 15th December 6 to 8.30pm
Our FOPA member Geraldine Afifi, accompanied by Mark Lodge at the piano, will be singing at a special evening at the Shelter shop in Western Road, which is offering mulled wine, mince pies, a raffle and discounts on store prices, for the modest entry fee of £2. As many of you will know, Shelter is an immensely successful international charity offering hope and reconstruction for communities across the world and is currently active in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Liberia.
8th December 2010Suekali Stubbs is selling her baby grand piano, of which two photos attached. She tells us that it is a Munck, about 70 years old, has a nice tone and is in working order, but needs cosmetic restoration. She is asking £300. The piano will have to be collected from her third floor flat. If interested, please contact her:
Flat 3, 24 Adelaide Crescent
Tel: 01273 727289
Mob: 0777 608 1909
9th December 2010
More spare Zone M parking vouchers
Gill Giddings also has 40 spare vouchers expiring 31st December, at £1 each. If you need some, please call her on 01273 735856 or 07884 430472.
8th December 2010 18th November 2010
Bird Feeders for the Gardens
For the song birds, not the gulls and pigeons!
We have found a local supplier of biodegradable hanging bird feeders made of compressed seeds, which the song birds need in the winter rather than bread. As the trees in the gardens have grown up in the past few years, so the song birds are gradually returning and we want to do as much as possible to encourage them and provide an attractive habitat.
The feeders illustrated below should be suspended in locations where squirrels, of which we have a number in the gardens, cannot reach but small birds can fly up to. This can be a challenge, as most squirrels seem to have trained with Cirque du Soleil, but not impossible.
Please consider ordering and hanging some of these in the gardens, and helping to support the ecology of this lovely area.
The feeders can be obtained at:
click on Wildlife in the Garden
or by calling 01844 217060
21st October 2010
Letter from the Chairman.
In advance of our meeting at the Cornerstone Centre on Saturday, there are a number of points I would like to add to my letter to members published in the Newsletter:
We have now added the Adelaide Crescent garden retaining wall to the Regency Society’s schedule of structures at risk in the City which will be included in any future discussions with English Heritage in the hope that we can make progress with renovations before too many more years have passed. It will not be forgotten, although it is clear this will not be easy, and I do not expect a positive result for a while.
We are also making slow progress regarding the Palmeira Mansions service roads. One of our Members has now indicated his willingness to become more involved and since he is a resident of Palmeira Mansions, we hope that this initiative will move forward. As soon as any more information is available we will send out a bulletin with news. As you probably all realise, because it is free to park there at the moment some residents are reluctant to see any changes.
One success has been the removal of the ugly Portakabins from the Adelaide Crescent garden and that area is gradually being tidied up, with several ideas for further improvement being discussed at the moment. One of these is to have one or two lights in this rather dark area, an idea very much supported by the local Police. We are waiting for some information from the Council as to whether this is possible.
I think that most of you will agree that the display by ‘Hawkforce’ after our last meeting in March was very impressive, and with an ongoing contract with this company we would probably be able to reduce, or even possibly eliminate, the pigeon issue. There are unfortunately several difficulties with this: one is the cost, because we now realise it would have to be an on-going contract, and it seems unlikely that every resident would support and contribute to this, quite understandably. But the most difficult aspect is that as long as the pigeons continue to be fed by anyone in the Square or Crescent, they will remain and continue to nest. I imagine there will be some Members who would like this discussed at the Cornerstone Meeting and we will try to answer as many questions as possible, although it would seem that we would simply be wasting people’s money if we cannot stop the feeding.
Susan Hunter
Chair of FOPA