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Liverpool's 24 Kitchen Street Campaigns Against Developers
Christian Eede , December 4th, 2019 15:21

Noise complaints, the club says, could force it to close

The team behind Liverpool venue 24 Kitchen Street has launched a campaign against local plans for residential development.

Writing on Facebook, the venue owners said that Liverpool Council is looking "to give permission for the neighbouring block of flats to install windows that will, according to acoustic surveys conducted both on [the club's] behalf and the developer, almost certainly lead to noise complaints once residents move in".

Residents are scheduled to move into the neighbouring flats in September 2020, and, as the club's post points out, "noise complaints get venues shut down".

The post continues: "In future, [Liverpool Council is] suggesting that we seek Temporary Event Notices (you're allowed 12 per year), in order to host the louder and more bass heavy music events (they use the example of a reggae concert). Going back through our program from the last 12 months, we believe this would affect around 60-90 shows, spanning techno, punk and bass music styles. In any case, we already use most of our temporary licenses for outdoor terrace parties, and only have around 3 spare."

The club says that this will restrict the range of music and artists that it can support going forward. "We are not prepared to accept this, and realistically would rather shut our doors than work under such restrictive conditions," it concludes.

You can support 24 Kitchen Street's GoFundMe campaign for legal costs against Liverpool Council here.