Quayside Bar Granted Temporary Planning Permission Despite Concerns About Anti-Social Behaviour

Key Highlights :

1. The bar has been given the go-ahead to have extra tables, despite concerns about anti-social behaviour.

2. The bar has been granted temporary planning permission to increase the capacity of its outdoor space from ten tables and 40 chairs to 20 tables and 60 chairs.

3. Some objecting residents living in Azera House had told the council that increasing the capacity will exaggerate problems with the bar and urged councillors not to grant approval.

4. Sarah Riles, representing the 18 residents of Azera House who objected, said: “(We) frequently witness poor behaviour from patrons and staff. “Management ignores it and does not practically manage this behaviour at any time of the day or night. “Frequently, residents are unable to get to their front entrance without having to ask intoxicated bar-goers to move. We’ve been met with abuse and sometimes violence getting to our own homes.”

5. Ms Riles claimed there is ‘constant bad language, screaming and shrieking’.

6. Ms Riles also claimed that the bar is already operating 18 tables, even though it only had current planning permission for ten, and that 120 people have been counted on the terrace.

7. Ms Riles told the planning panel that residents have been ‘intimidated’ by the bar and each made to believe they are ‘the only person with the problem’.

8. Other issues the residents said they are facing were ‘impingement of privacy’ as the establishment allegedly flew drones ‘looking into our homes’ – and on one occasion, Ms Riles said there was a resident ‘laying on her balcony in her bikini and a drone was two metres away from her’.

9. More problems include rats ‘running riot’, litter ‘blowing into the river’ and the noise coming from the music , talking and the moving of metal tables, the meeting heard.

10. Mr Lawrence said the business was not only delivering its vision, but also ‘the vision of the council’ – by getting people to engage with the river with Quayside Bar the only waterfront bar on the east side of the city.

11. Mr Lawrence added that in May, he invited objectors from Azera House to come down for coffee and to talk – but no one came.

12. Woolston ward councillor Warwick Payne has held meetings with both sides of the argument and attended the planning meeting to call for a ‘peace deal’.

13. The city council granted temporary planning permission to the bar, with several conditions attached – and the bar will now be allowed to have the ten extra tables until reapplication in September 2024.

     The Quayside Bar in Southampton has been granted temporary planning permission to increase its outdoor seating capacity, despite concerns from local residents about anti-social behaviour. The bar, which occupies the ground floor of the Azera House residential block in Centenary Quay, had requested permission to increase its capacity from 10 tables and 40 chairs to 20 tables and 60 chairs. This was needed to boost business as it is ‘currently operating at a loss’ and has 19 staff to support.

     The decision was made at a planning meeting of Southampton City Council on Tuesday following a debate which lasted almost three hours. Some objecting residents living in Azera House had told the council that increasing the capacity will exaggerate problems with the bar and urged councillors not to grant approval. Sarah Riles, representing the 18 residents of Azera House who objected, said: “(We) frequently witness poor behaviour from patrons and staff. Management ignores it and does not practically manage this behaviour at any time of the day or night.”

     Ms Riles also claimed that the bar is already operating 18 tables, even though it only had current planning permission for ten, and that 120 people have been counted on the terrace. “Even throughout this application process, they continue to breach some requirements with no consequence,” she said.

     Mike Lawrence, the co-founder of Quayside Bar told the planning committee that the bar is ‘currently operating at a loss’ and said that it needed the council’s backing. He said: “We appreciate the comments of the objectors, but I would point out there are 18 objectors and there are 110 flats. The reason we are desperate to look at the number of seats outside is to give us, and afford us, the flexibility to manage when people come down at peak times.”

     Woolston ward councillor Warwick Payne had held meetings with both sides of the argument and attended the planning meeting to call for a ‘peace deal’. He said: “The primary reason I have come here today (is for) a peace deal – that is what I’m looking for – a question of everyone getting on. Let’s live and let live with this.”

     The city council granted temporary planning permission to the bar, with several conditions attached – and the bar will now be allowed to have the ten extra tables until reapplication in September 2024.

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