Top tips for outdoor events and controlling noise outbreaks

For this year and next, the number of temporary event notices (TENs) permitted has been extended from 15 to 20 per year and the maximum number of days on which TENs may be held increased from 21 to 26. This year we also have The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the start of June and the FIFA World Cup towards the end of the year. All of these factors, with what will hopefully be good weather over the summer months, will hopefully mean that the hospitality sector is able to do a roaring trade.

We have therefore set out our top tips for you to consider if you are proposing an outdoor event and how you can assist with managing any noise outbreak.

Premises licence: Review this to check what licensable activities can be carried out, the timings of these activities and any relevant conditions. Are you licensed to have live and recorded (i.e. DJ or disco) music indoors and outdoors? Does your beer garden have to be closed at a certain time? Are there any licence conditions which require you to carry out checks when you have music taking place?

If your licence only permits live or recorded music indoors then you may be able to rely on a deregulation in law to allow you to have music outdoors up until 11pm. It is worth checking your premises licence on this and if unsure seek legal advice.

Be proactive: This is critical. If you are proposing to have a live band outside on the bank holiday Friday of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, then it may be worth ensuring that your immediate neighbours aware of this. Noise nuisance has rapidly become a major problem for a lot of operators on the return to trade. Although there is no guarantee that complaints still won’t be received, it would be best for you to make them aware of what is being planned so that it does not come as a shock to them when they open their patio doors to hear what they think is Freddie Mercury doing “Ay-Oh” with your customers!

If you have had noise issues in the past and had dealings with your local council’s noise team, then it may be worth speaking with them about your ideas to gauge their views. They can provide their expertise on what you have planned and may suggest additional steps that you could adopt such as monitoring the noise levels at certain points.

Be considerate: If you are planning an outdoor event on a particular Friday or Saturday then consider not having any music or other outdoor event on the weekend before and afterwards. This will allow your neighbours a respite and hopefully lead to less issues for you. If you are having an outdoor music event on a Friday, it may not be worth having karaoke on the Saturday for the same reasons.

On certain occasions such as The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend, the FIFA World Cup and over the festive period, it is usually accepted that pub noise levels are likely to be louder than normal and that premises may have events taking place on these dates that they wouldn’t have in their normal trading pattern.

However, the critical point to hopefully ensure that your event can go ahead without any issues is to consider your location along with the frequency and duration of what event you are proposing. An acoustic musician in a beer garden between 3pm and 6pm providing background music to customers once a month is less likely to be deemed a noise nuisance than having tribute bands performing outside for three nights in a row every month.