Manchester’s Night & Day venue fights noise abatement troubles with mass petition
30,000 sign petition but complaining resident fights back
Resident insists they are “not an idiot!” as Manchester’s Night & Day Cafe launches SOS petition after nuisance notice
Iconic Manchester music venue Night & Day Cafe has launched a government petition to save the event space.
The petition was launched after the venue was served with a Noise Abatement Notice by the Manchester City Council (MCC), who are threatening to close the cafe by stating they are a noise nuisance.
Night & Day Cafe – situated on Oldham Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter – is a renowned live music venue that has welcomed many famous music acts since its grand opening in 1991. Over the years it has housed live performances by The Courteeners, Elbow, Kasabian, 808 State, Arctic Monkeys, and Manic Street Preachers, among others.
In the wake of the venue’s 30th birthday this saturday, Night & Day have slowly returned to hosting small independent music shows and other events six nights a week, after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions this year.
However, according to Night & Day’s official petition, a “new resident moved to Manchester and to a property that’s within close proximity to the venue” during lockdown. After restrictions lifted and the venue hosted its first live music event in nearly a year, the resident visited the venue the next day to complain, before reporting the venue to the MCC.
Despite the venue having met with the resident several times to explain the purpose of the venue and its standing in Manchester, the MCC’s Noise Abatement notice currently still stands.
On 25th November, the Manchester Evening News contacted the resident in question, who insisted he is “not an idiot” and has lived in Manchester long term. Having moved into the flat adjacent to the Night & Day Cafe last year, the man claims to have spent over £17,000 on noise insulation, but still struggles with “different DJs running until 3am at least twice a week – but they can run till 4am,” and claiming that “the bass can be so loud it vibrates everything in the flat.”
Now, the petition has asked for the MCC to remove the notice and to “address the real issue here which is that housing with ill-considered planning and construction has been approved and built next to a pre-existing live music business.”
“Night & Day is located at 26 Oldham Street. Over the past 15 years, flats have been built or existing buildings converted to flats around us with no real thought or consideration to the pre-existing business, building and what it does,” said the announcement.
Night & Day have asked not to be branded a “nuisance”, and were keen to point out the Council’s hypocrisy, stating that they received Arts Council funding, as well as an Expanded Additional Restrictions Grant for Cultural and Entertainment value, from the MCC during lockdown – after being recognised as a place of cultural significance by the public body.
At midday on 25th November, the petition surpassed its goal 50,000 signatures – well beyond the 10,000-signature target set by the UK government ensuring their response. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the issue will be debated in Parliament.
For more information and upcoming Night & Day events, visit: https://nightnday.org