The Flying Circus, Newark, served and abatement notice by Newark and Sherwood District Council after noise levels from live music deemed a statutory nuisance

A live music venue has been told it must reduce noise levels within three months, or face action.

Newark and Sherwood District Council served an abatement notice on The Flying Circus, on Castlegate, Newark, after a noise nuisance was identified.

The notice requires action to address the noise. It is not a ban on the pub hosting events.

The Flying Circus has three months to comply and failure to do so will result in a breach of the notice.

In three months, the noise levels will be checked and if there has been no improvement, then a prosecution or fine could follow.

The owners may appeal against the serving of the notice.

Paul Taylor, the council’s cabinet member for public protection and community relations, said: “The council hasn’t asked The Flying Circus to cancel events, we haven’t banned music and we haven’t removed the owner’s licence to provide entertainment.

“The abatement notice allows the business to carry on operating, should they wish to, but requires that within three months, measures are taken to mitigate, or reduce, noise levels.

“In terms of the law, the council has to deal with noise complaints in the same way irrespective of whether there is one complaint or 1,000. Where there is found to be a statutory noise nuisance — which is determined by monitoring noise levels — the council has a duty to act and seeks to work with the parties involved to find a solution.”

The pub, which has for many years hosted live acts from up and down the country and international artists, was the subject of a noise complaint in March.

After the complaint was received, the council says it met with or wrote to the owners of The Flying Circus three times to ask them to take suitable steps to reduce noise levels.

The council said, on July 5, noise monitoring equipment was placed in the complainant’s home and the noise levels recorded constituted a statutory nuisance. The complainant reported no improvement in noise levels at this time either.

By August 25, no noise reduction improvements had been implemented by The Flying Circus, and the council wrote to the venue owners setting out the details of the noise nuisance. It advised they must deal with the issue and offered to give advice.

Noise monitoring equipment was again installed and enforcement officers examined the recordings alongside a record kept by the complainant. The level of noise recorded constituted a statutory nuisance and the notice was served.

Mr Taylor said the owners of the Flying Circus has since reached out to the council, which looks forward to finding a workable solution with them.

The pub owners did not want to comment.