The owners of a former Bath nightclub want to remove what residents say is their only safeguard ahead of a major investment to turn it into a pub.
City Pub Group said it is impractical to keep reapplying every 12 months to use the outdoor space behind The Nest at 7 Bladud Buildings.
With Bath and North East Somerset Council officers recommending approval, Walcot ward councillors Tom Davies and Richard Samuel have asked for the application to be considered by the planning committee to address the “significant concern”.
The control was imposed when former owner Max Johnson secured permission in 2019 to convert the Grade II-listed building, which shut its doors as a nightclub that year, into a pub.
The City Pub Group, which also owns and operates the Bath Brewhouse and more than 40 other venues nationally, said in its application to vary the condition: “The 12-month limit on the use of the garden is impractical and makes any attempt to open the premises as a public house along the lines of the extant consent unviable, it creates considerable uncertainty in the context of the approved development.
“The applicant is investing a significant financial sum to bring the listed building back into viable commercial use and the ability to use the outside space is an essential part of the approved use being successful.”
The condition allows the external area to be used until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 11pm Sunday to Thursday but has to be renewed every 12 months.
The firm said the Covid-19 pandemic had illustrated the importance of having outside space – an argument that was not open to it when it tried to remove the restriction along with several others in March 2020 in an application that was later withdrawn.
Objectors Mr and Mrs Belli said the 2019 application process when the nightclub’s conversion was approved was “long and painful” and the annual review was the neighbours’ only safeguard.
The Abbey Residents’ Association said the council was right to impose the condition, as the alternative would be enforcement action for any breaches, “a time-consuming and sometimes complex process which could subject local residents to a prolonged period of noise and disturbance at night”.
Amanda Habisrittinger, another objector, said over the years there have been numerous antisocial problems linked to previous incarnations of the premises and the condition gave neighbours reassurance.
She said: “Whilst Covid-19 has forced some hospitality businesses outside it cannot be to the detriment of neighbours and I’m sure that a professionally run pub chain such as the City Pub Group will understand that there needs to be a respectful understanding of this going forward.”
The pub chain argued that the venue’s licence will control how the area is used and a separate condition on the planning application banning amplified music in the garden gives the authority ample control.
Recommending approval, planning officers said varying the 12-month rule was considered acceptable in terms of the impact on neighbour amenity.
Planning committee members will consider the application this afternoon, 25th August.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
