A company that runs a hotel, bar and venue in Reading town centre has won permission to stay open two hours later at night despite opposition from a property investor.
Market House in Reading has been open since July 2019 at the former Lloyds Bank in Market Place.
The venue contains two bars, a street food kitchen, and activities including karaoke, shuffleboard and table tennis. It also has a 23-bedroom hotel.
Its operating company applied to keep on selling alcohol and playing music until 1am, with a full closure at 1.30am from Wednesday to Saturday during the week.
These hours extensions faced opposition from Sykes Capital, the owning company of Jackson’s Corner, which contains 33 luxury apartments.
Andrew Strong, general counsel at Sykes Capital, argued that the residents of Jackson’s Corner are already negatively impacted by noise coming from Market House.
Because of the objection, a meeting of Reading Borough Council had to take place to decide the application.
Market House was represented by James Anderson from Poppleston Allen solicitors, who was accompanied by Rich Robinson, the general manager.
Councillor Deborah Edwards (Labour, Southcote) asked what awareness Market House staff had of controlling noise, pointing out the population of the area is increasing thanks to Jackson’s Corner and the Soane Point development for 182 flats next door.
Mr Anderson suggested the roof windows should be closed at 11pm each night in an effort to ensure noise does not escape.
He said: “The premises is pretty good in its natural noise prevention measures as a bank. We hope that closing the roof will deal with that.
“We haven’t had complaints from neighbours or our own residents [hotel guests].
“There is no objection from residents or the environmental health team. Rich is very good.
“It can be noisy now anyway without us.”
The application was submitted by City Pub Group, which was acquired by Young’s Pubs in March last year.
Cllr Paul Woodward (Labour, Church)expressed surprise at how ‘modest’ the current closure time of 11pm is, and questioned whether the extended hours application represents a change in culture since the acquisition.
Mr Anderson replied: “It’s not a culture change, 1am is late for Young’s Pubs.”
Charlie Sykes, a director of Sykes Capital, argued disturbance will escalate due to the extended hours.
He said: “We’ve already received complaints, there is an issue here, noise is going into those apartments.
There are windows overlooking that area. Noise appears to be travelling into Jackson’s Corner, that’s principally our concern, and a risk of nuisance to our occupiers.
“It’s a residential area, there are no other late-night venues in the area, and it will have an impact on residents. We just feel it’s inappropriate.”
Mr Anderson responded by pointing out that no residents of Jackson’s Corner submitted an official objection.
Councillors decided to grant the application at the licensing applications sub-committee meeting on Tuesday, April 29.
The decision was made by cllrs Edwards, Woodward and Amjad Tarar (Labour, Battle).
It was approved on the condition that windows be closed at 11pm, and that contact details for Market House be made available Sykes Capital and occupiers.
