Legendary Manchester venue Night & Day will remain open following noise dispute
The long-running Northern Quarter club's team said they were "delighted" and "disappointed" by the judge's ruling on the Noise Abatement Notice
Manchester's Night & Day has been allowed to remain open after a more than three-year-long noise dispute.
The legendary Northern Quarter venue, open for over three decades, will be able to continue operating as a nightclub if adjustments to limit noise to a "reasonable, practicable level" are made in the next 28 days, BBC News reports. The Noise Abatement Notice (NAN), first served by Manchester City Council in November 2021, stemmed from a noise complaint from a next-door neighbour who moved in during the pandemic lockdown and has since left.
"In an ideal world, a balance would be able to be struck in the ability of the resident to enjoy their property and the venue to operate as a going concern", District Judge Margaret McCormack said. "Sadly, due to a faulty party wall this is not possible."
The Night & Day team said they were "delighted" and "disappointed" by the judge's ruling in an Instagram post on Monday, 18th March. "Although N&D has won, we’re disappointed with today's judgement as the venue will have to adjust our club nights to suit an occupier of what is a defective apartment", they wrote. "MCC Planning approved the apartment back in 2000 in full knowledge that there would be serious potential for noise problems in this flat and before any resident moved in. Today's decision has huge implications for other Manchester night time industries and operators."
After the recent hearing, the NAN has been updated to give Night & Day a short period of time to implement changes to diminish noise from the contentious operation hours of midnight to 3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights, when the venue holds DJ club nights.
Since Night & Day launched the petition challenging the council's NAN in 2021, it's gained more than 99,000 signatures in support of the long-running venue. "We maintain the source of the problem is that when the adjoining building was converted from warehouse to flats, no consideration was given to the pre-existing music venue", the venue's team said ahead of the February hearing. "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."
Read Night & Day's new statement in full.
