Harbourside bar blocked from extending outside drinking hours

A popular bar in the Harbourside has been blocked from a bid to allow drinkers outside for an extra hour each night.

Neighbours living next to BrewDog objected to the noise coming from revellers sitting on outdoor tables and chairs.

BrewDog lies on the corner of Millenium Promenade and Cathedral Walk and currently must clear customers from its outside area by 9.30pm each night. Outdoor tables and chairs must also be cleared away or “rendered unusable” by 10pm, as part of its premises licence.

The bar’s owners applied to Bristol City Council to change its licence, allowing customers to stay drinking outside until 10.30pm, with tables packed away by 11pm. But residents living in apartments nearby objected to the changes, during a licensing hearing on Thursday, May 11.

BrewDog lies on the corner of Millenium Promenade and Cathedral Walk – photo: Alex Seabrook

Speaking at the hearing, Bernice Gollop said: “The issue is whether it’s more important to satisfy BrewDog’s staff or the residents.

“Some of the residents live just 10 metres away from the premises, where you can have 60 people drinking outside. If you have children living there, children need to have some sleep, not people drinking outside until 10.30pm.”

Sarah Morris added: “I’ve lived in the area for 14 years, I was one of the earliest residents to come and live in the area.

“I’ve observed the changes from what we thought was going to be provision in the precinct, from an M&S food shop which was there initially, and it’s gradually changed to bar after bar after bar. It just seems to be party central down there now.

“If you’ve got one bar increasing their capacity outside later, there are other bars with seats outside as well, and it just encourages more and more people to come to the area and regard it as a drinking space.

“There’s so little provision for residents. I don’t feel safe coming through the area sometimes if I know there are people who have been drinking.”

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Read more: Brewdog apply to extend opening hours of harbourside bar

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BrewDog was initially given a premises licence for its new Harbourside bar in January last year, which then opened in July. The bar opens until 11pm during the week and midnight on weekends, and has space for around 60 covers on tables and chairs outside.

Felicity Tulloch, a solicitor representing BrewDog, said: “During warmer evenings, operationally it has become increasingly challenging to get everybody in by 9.30pm. As the nights get lighter, our customers want to stay out a bit longer.

By varying the condition to 10.30pm, it’s expected that the area will have naturally dispersed by then.”

Will Brown, head of projects at BrewDog, added: “We’ve found that trying to remove people at the hours that the licence sets currently can be quite a difficult thing to do. At that time of night, people are normally in the flow of conversation, they’ve had a couple of beers.

“We would find it a lot easier to ask people to stop using that area at 10.30pm, when the venue is becoming a lot quieter and a lot of people have left. It can be quite intimidating for a staff member to go up to a group of people and say ‘guys we need to close this area’.”

But the licensing sub-committee voted to refuse the application to change the licence. This means the bar will still have to stop customers from drinking outside after 9.30pm. However, BrewDog could still apply again to change its licence, in a few months or a couple of years.

Conservative councillor Richard Eddy, chair of the licensing hearing, said: “This part of the Harbourside is clearly a very mixed community with residents living cheek by jowl.

“It seems to me that the administration views the present situation like Pontius Pilate, they’re washing their hands of the issue rather than seeking to address it. I find that unacceptable.

“We agreed we should refuse this application which we believe to be somewhat premature. Not even one full summer has elapsed.

“In our view the experience is only partial, and we don’t believe any application can be properly assessed until that experience has been undertaken and completed.”

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Alex Seabrook

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