Dublin’s nightlife community are increasingly sick of hotels and tourist properties trying to disrupt and quieten the city’s night-time spaces.
The frequency with which noise complaints happen between new hotels or commercial buildings and venues and nightclubs in Dublin has grown as hotels proliferate the city in recent years.
Many of these complaints are made by people familiar with the legal and planning systems or have the financial muscle to put the pressure on quieting their night-time neighbours. We’ve all heard the stories of newly built hotels (it’s usually hotels) putting the kosh on pre-existing venues in the city but usually these matters remain private.
Last week’s news of The Hoxton hotel taking a legal case against Yamamori Izakaya was notable, what caused this news to go public was The Hoxton’s hammer of a High Court injunction reported in the media, and they clearly hit a nerve with people who actively enjoy Dublin’s nightlife scene, and it didn’t help that it appeared to have a conflict of interest in the space, as The Hoxton plans to rebrand the old Rí Ra night club space as a new basement nightclub space called Groundwork, which their materials say is a “venue celebrating community, inclusiveness and classic club culture”.
There’s a petition on Uplift and a protest is planned for tomorrow Tuesday February 17th on South Great George’s Street at 6pm.
Speakers include musician and People Before Profit Central by-election candidate Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Robbie Kitt (representing Praxis Union), Palestinian artist and activist Manal Mahamid and Richard Boyd Barrett TD.
People Before Profit are then hosting a public meeting at The Cobblestone from 7:30pm on how we defend our arts and cultural spaces.
Hoxton Hotel property operators Trinity Hospitality meanwhile, say left they were left with no choice but to go to the high court to get a response from Yamamori about the issue in question as per a new statement over the weekend from a Trinity Hospitality spokesperson:
Trinity Hospitality has been seeking to engage constructively with Yamamori Izakaya since late November to conduct joint acoustic testing across both the restaurant unit and the hotel bedrooms to help find a solution. Yamamori Izakaya informed Trinity Hospitality that it required certain technical information about the hotel refurbishment works before joint testing could be carried out. Trinity Hospitality’s position is that the technical specifications for the refurbishment works are not needed in order for joint testing to proceed. Unfortunately, that testing was not facilitated by Yamamori Izakaya, preventing meaningful technical discussions on a solution. Unfortunately, we were left with no choice but to seek this injunction which relates solely to enabling and accelerating this collaborative process.
The building has operated as a hotel since it was purpose-built in 1887. During the recent refurbishment, extensive sound-mitigation measures were installed, including a bespoke, engineered acoustic floor above the Yamamori Izakaya unit and high-specification secondary glazing.
Yamamori Izakaya has long held its “Izakaya Basement” late-night events. However, since the hotel closed for refurbishment, late-night DJ events started in the ground-floor restaurant, which lacks the appropriate structural-acoustic measures of a nightclub which is causing low-frequency noise transfer into the hotel. We believe further acoustic works on the Yamamori Izakaya side would help address the current issues. We look forward to discussing collaboration and contribution towards those solutions.
We are not seeking to curtail cultural or nightlife activity. We consider Yamamori Izakaya an hugely important part of the local nightlife scene, and would like to see it thrive. Rather, we hope this step will lead to constructive engagement to resolve what we believe are solvable technical matters, allowing both hospitality businesses to operate successfully. We are delighted that, following our direct communication on Friday representatives of Yamamori Izakaya agreed to joint testing which occurred over the weekend.
As mentioned previously, it’s not clear how the Agent Of Change principle, the “Noise Impacts” in the Dublin City Development Plan would affect the above request for The Hoxton’s request for”further acoustic works on the Yamamori Izakaya side” after they claim the issue is music not in the basement but the ground floor.
All applications for short or longer term residential proposals (including hotels) that seek permission adjacent to established late night uses such as nightclubs/music venues/public houses/comedy clubs, shall be required to demonstrate in their application, how, firstly through the use of good design and layout; and secondly, through increased sound insulation; they have ensured their development will not cause negative impacts on the adjoining uses in the future.
Dublin City Development Plan
Yamamori meanwhile have yet to comment publicly, with the matter due back in court though that really depends on how conversations around the aforementioned joint testing and whether this matter will now be resolved away from the courts due to Hoxton’s legal threat.
But the dispute has clearly become a flashpoint for Dublin city’s cultural community and the threat of dwindling arts and venue spaces, like the closure of The Complex just last month, and The Cobblestone before it.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
