Manchester’s Night and Day Café offer update amid hearing over future
Anticipating the final day of their hearing on January 29th at Manchester Magistrates Court regarding a Noise Abatement Notice they were served over two years ago, beloved Manchester venue the Night and Day Café have shared an update on their situation.
The Northern Quarter-based venue first faced noise complaints from neighbours a decade ago in 2014. With the support of the Music Venue Trust and Manchester-born musician Johnny Marr, they retained their license.
In 2021, the venue received a Noise Abatement Notice after a new resident complained about noise. As news broke that the venue faced the threat of closure, over 94,000 people signed a petition to remove the notice, and the likes of The Goa Express and Elbow’s Guy Garvey openly shared their support.
The latest update from the venue maintains that the noise problem was caused “when the adjourning building was converted from warehouse to flats,” without adequately considering the venue. “Attenuation of ‘noise’ was and still is a condition of the planning consent,” the statement declares. Despite the issue being raised during the planning stages, the council decided to go ahead with the conversion of the building to flats.
“The resident of the flat has since moved out around 18 months ago and we’ve not received any further noise complaints,” Night and Day continued, “The venue continues to operate in exactly the same manner it has done for over 32 years – live music and club nights. The flat remains unoccupied.”
Night and Day maintained that the venue “has not changed how, where and what [they] do,” before concluding, “Once the judge has listened to the evidence presented, she will then review and come to a decision after the hearing.”
Small venue closures have experienced a worrying surge, with more than one grassroots venue closing every week on average last year. Music Venue Trust has been working to reduce the problem by reporting on the sector, calling for legislative protection, and even launching an ‘Own Our Venues’ scheme.
Read the full statement from Night and Day below.
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