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Neighbours Fear Museum Expansion Will Lead to Noise, Public Drinking, and Weddings

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Residents near Hove Museum expressed concerns about the museum's plans to extend its alcohol license, fearing it would lead to increased noise, public drinking, and potentially weddings at the venue. The Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust's proposals would remove a restriction on late-night alcohol sales and extend café alcohol sales to an outside area.

Key Takeaways:

  • The current license restricts late-night alcohol sales until 11pm to 24 times a year, but the museum trust applied to remove this restriction.
  • Residents are concerned that the museum could become a noisy bar, with one resident, Julia Hamblin, stating that the existing café in the grounds is already creating a nuisance due to noise from people eating and drinking outside.
  • Another resident, Martin Davis, expressed concerns about weddings at the museum, stating that the application could allow for live music, plays, and recorded music indoors and outdoors from 10am to 11pm daily.
  • The Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust's visitor experience manager, Shaun Doyle, stated that there are no plans to operate as a bar, introduce weddings at the museum, or have performances of plays or music outdoors.
  • The museum had more than 41,000 visitors last year and held 15 ticketed "museum lates" where food and drink was provided for sale.
  • The museum trust is considering extending opening hours to 6pm and would have the option to use temporary event notices for events finishing later.

Statistics:

  • The current license restricts late-night alcohol sales until 11pm to 24 times a year.
  • The museum trust applied to remove this restriction.
  • The museum had more than 41,000 visitors last year.
  • The museum held 15 ticketed "museum lates" where food and drink was provided for sale.
  • Only three or four events, including private views, took place outside in the last two years.
  • The museum's seating capacity is 60, and for standing events, the capacity is 120.

Sources:

  • Brighton and Hove City Council (no date mentioned)
  • Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust (no date mentioned)
  • Shahin Ahmed, "Hove Museum noise fears over licensing plan", The Argus, [1]

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