No action to be taken over 'significant' Irish bar noise complaints in Glasgow's Merchant City

No action will be taken against an Irish bar in the Merchant City which received a “significant” number of noise complaints.

Connolly’s Irish Bar’s premises licence was reviewed after issues were repeatedly raised with the council’s licensing team.

Glasgow’s Licensing Board previously heard how the Bell Street venue planned to invest up to £20,000 in soundproofing measures.

Now it has decided to take no action against the bar after Archie MacIver, representing Connolly’s, said most of the work had been completed.

Councillors on the board heard how there have been two more noise complaints since the last meeting in February, but efforts to contact the complainers had been unsuccessful.

Both complaints, from the same source, were made before the soundproofing work was finished.

Mr MacIver said the bar’s owners had made a “couple of tweaks” to a noise management plan on the recommendation of licensing staff.

Measures to reduce noise including drywall fitting and a suspended ceiling have been completed, he added, while new flooring and a stage are expected to be installed on Monday.

Acoustic panelling still needs to be carried out but a device to limit noise had already been put in place. Mr MacIver said there were “practical difficulties” with fitting another door due to the impact on disabled access.

A member of staff will be “on duty to ensure the doors are kept closed” when entertainment or football is on, he added.

Mr MacIver also said numerous attempts had been made to contact the complainers above the premises but they hadn’t been answered.

He added a “considerable amount of money has been spent by the owners of the premises” despite acting “slightly blindfolded and with one arm behind their back because they are trying to guess to some extent what the issue is”.

A Police Scotland representative said, between late June last year and earlier this week, there had been six disorder incidents on the premises, but staff had “acted in the manner we would expect them to act”.

There were three noise complaints to police, the officers said, but these were “unfounded”.

At an earlier hearing, it had been revealed that 75 noise complaints, from 10 complainers, had been made to the council’s licensing department between March 2020 and February 2022.