A Kirklees wedding venue has lost its licence over noise nuisance, as residents say repeated car revving, loud music, shouting and drumming has caused them sleepless nights.
The Wedding Marquee at the Gomersal Lodge Hotel has been causing locals serious problems for years, today’s (3 September) meeting of Kirklees Council’s Licensing Panel heard. Environmental Health had requested that the local authority review the marquee’s licence, urging the panel to revoke it altogether due to “ongoing noise nuisance complaints”.
This was said to be the first time that Kirklees’ Environmental Health had ever asked for a venue’s licence to be revoked.
The marquee was first granted a licence in 2011 despite concerns from Environmental Health that it could result in public nuisance. This view was supported by locals but the council gave the premises licence regardless. The licence came with several conditions including that noise be “inaudible” inside any nearby “noise-sensitive” locations, and that notices be displayed telling patrons to quietly leave the premises.
After 30 complaints of noise nuisance in the 12 months prior, the venue was served an abatement notice in September 2023. This made noise from loud music and drumming an offence. The meeting heard that there was an exception for drumming to take place for a short period of time upon the bride’s arrival due to the cultural significance in Asian weddings.
Eight members of the public had made representations prior to the meeting setting out how the business had been negatively impacting their lives. Concern for quality of life, mental health and sleepless nights were among those voiced.
At today’s meeting, local resident Mr Turner played several video clips from recent weeks. A clip taken from inside his garden on 24 July demonstrated car revving, honking and shouting at 11.30pm, with further nuisance occurring earlier that same day. More clips from the following day showed loud music and drumming at 5pm, continuing until after 5.30 and then again at 6.30pm, along with noisy revving car engines.
Image: gomersallodge
A clip showing fireworks being set off on a residential street in 2023, allegedly by marquee-goers, was also played, though this was said to be in the jurisdiction of the police. The hotel had banned the use of fireworks to lessen disruption.
Another resident, Mrs Moyser, who has lived in her property from around a decade said that while people should be able to culturally celebrate their weddings, this needed to be done within the law and licensing objectives.
She added: “You’ve heard consistent evidence from residents that repeated disturbance has been caused by events at this venue over years. The disturbance has materially affected the ability of neighbours to enjoy their homes and gardens, has interfered with sleep, and has clearly been unsafe as we’ve just seen there…”
Mrs Moyser called on the panel to take firm action and to question whether the business has any social conscience. She also criticised the hotel’s “dismissive” approach when she had contacted them with issues.
The applicant’s representative described the application for a review as “fundamentally flawed” and “unnecessary” in itself, though this was disputed by licensing bosses. Though he apologised to residents on the hotel’s behalf, he described the incidents as “occasional” and “minor”.
He spoke of investment and measures to minimise impact of noise including new management, soundproofing and decibel monitoring. He said the business had listened, invested and acted and was “committed” to being a responsible neighbour.
However, Environmental Health Officer, Joanne Cooper, did not believe this to be the case and said of many of the measures being proposed by the hotel: “Those changes should have already been made. This is not a new conversation, these are not new suggestions and new points being raised. The abatement notice was served nearly two years ago.”
One of the managers, Shazia Hussain, said she had “proactively engaged” with Environmental Health. She explained that her father, Nazir Hussain – who is the licence holder – had been running the hotel for the past 33 years before she also became a manager around a year ago. It also emerged that her brother Nadeem had held a management role since September 2023.
Ms Hussain said: “I want to emphasise that I take full responsibility and do not dismiss the concerns of residents, nor the Environmental Health team. My goal is to work openly and collaboratively to ensure our business operates professionally, efficiently, and respectfully with the community.”
After a period of deliberation, the panel returned having agreed to revoke the licence altogether. Chair of the panel, Cllr Eric Firth (Labour, Dewsbury East), said: “The reasons for the panel’s decisions are – evidence has been compiled over a number of years from residents and Environmental Health in respect of the wedding marquee application…
“The licence holder has had sufficient time and opportunity to address the concerns of the local authority and local residents. And that licensing objectives in relation to the prevention of public nuisance has not been met.”
