Thursday, October 27, 2022

Unsound judgement

The Night & Day, in Manchester's Northern Quarter, may have successfully fought off a potentially fatal noise complaint back in 2014, but now the venue is having to do so all over again - and the circumstances are particularly infuriating.

Not only is there one solitary complainant, living in premises adjacent to the Night & Day no doubt in full knowledge of its existence, but "a crucial acoustic report had not been provided, nor works completed to the development before it was occupied". This was, the venue underlines, "a condition of the planning consent for conversion of the building". Little wonder, then, that they were "shocked and appalled" to learn this - and that they have been left dumbfounded by the fact that even now the council is refusing to lift the Noise Abatement Notice served on the venue a year ago.

Needless to say, the Music Venue Trust is energetically fighting the Night & Day's corner, and has issued a suitably blunt message to the council: "Either MCC act to #SaveNightandDay or they should just take down the billboards, switch off the marketing, drop the pretense, and prepare to close up shop on music. If Manchester cannot protect the Night & Day it isn't a Music City."

Many of the threats facing grassroots venues today are large-scale and beyond the power of individual councils to control - but in this instance there's no excuse whatsoever. Hopefully, if enough people sign this petition, then the weight of numbers might force MCC into a climbdown and the Night & Day's future can be secured.

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