Hardy's pub vows to work with residents over complaints

An immediate neighbour of Hardy’s in Trinity Street prompted a review of the pub’s licence on grounds of public nuisance after losing sleep.

She said that much of the problem, often until the early hours, had been caused by people congregating in Trinity Street and in the alleyway which runs down to South Street, laughing, chanting, smoking and occasionally arguing or even fighting.

“I can’t understand why they linger because they’re not waiting for taxis – 98 per cent of them walk home, but it’s often 2am or later,” she said.

She had also complained of loud music from the pub, past midnight, prior to lockdown restrictions beginning, pointing out that one of the pub’s licensing conditions is that music should not be able to be heard from outside the premises.

Other complaints include 20 or more people standing outside her home, smoking, forcing the windows to be closed, even on the hottest days of the summer.

The hearing, on Friday, resulted in a promise by the pub owner, Punch Taverns and the landlord Glenn Chadwick, to work with residents to try and solve the issues although they said some measures had been taken immediately once they were aware of the residents’ concerns.

Mr Chadwick, who has run the pub since November 2019, said incidents of fighting in the street, on two occasions in July, could not be attributed to people who had been in the pub and had happened well after it had closed.

He said that trying to re-open had been difficult: “It’s a unique time. It’s an extremely testing time as a licensee to get your head around what is going on and what’s happening, and that has the knock-on effect on not just me, but everyone in the vicinity. I am more than happy to do whatever it takes to resolve these issues.”

Solicitor for the company, Piers Warne, said that the problems of noise and disturbance had been made worse by Covid restrictions which has seen greater use of the pub garden and doors having to be kept open to meet safety rules as a result of the pandemic, together with a one-way system which had to be introduced.

He told the hearing that because Hardy’s had been, effectively, the only premises in town which was open until the early hours customers from other pubs had tended to gravitate there if they wanted to stay out late, or to use the taxi rank outside the pub.

The problems arose shortly after pubs were allowed to re-open on July 4th, although night clubs had to remain closed, as did many late-night takeaways – causing greater numbers than normal to head for Hardy’s.

“Nobody want to be responsible for anybody’s disturbance…We will do whatever we can to work with residents and (council) officers,” said Mr Warne.

He said that re-opening after three months of people going stir crazy by being stuck at home and with a lack of clear guidance from the Government was always going to be difficult.

“One must accept that a little bit of leeway should be granted to operators who were basically marching on sand to try and get ready to open in a world that nobody had fully got to grips with …factors which were outside of the control of the management of Hardy’s and Punch Taverns. There had been no incidents of noise, nuisance, crime or disorder from the premises prior to July ,” he said.

Dorset Police said in a statement that although they had seen a rise in the number of public complaints from the Trinity Street area they felt there was no reason for them to take up any matters with Hardy’s and were not represented at the hearing.

The panel of councillors heard that Mr Chadwick and his door staff had been praised by both the police and ambulance for offering assistance to people outside the premises, and that prior to Covid there had been nothing to cause concern about the premises itself. Several regulars had written to the panel to praise the Mr Chadwick and his team.

A decision on the review of the pub’s licence is expected to be announced in about a week’s time.