Sidmouth pub will keep noise lower during Folk Week

'Rolling in the Deep' was too loud last year

A popular Devon pub at the heart of a major festival in its town will have to abide by two small rule changes when hosting acts during the week-long event.

The Anchor Inn in Sidmouth had noise complaints lodged against it during Sidmouth Folk Week by residents who live close to the pub.

Efforts to ascertain the noise levels at the pub during the event included sound monitors inside and outside the complainant’s home, as well as by the performance stage.

A hearing held at East Devon District Council heard that a rendition of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep momentarily led to elevated sound levels at the famed Devon pub during Sidmouth Folk Week.

The complaint was brought by a resident acting on behalf of nine neighbours in total, but support for the pub was strong, with letters of support from two residents as well as a petition with more than 60 names backing the business.

Following a hearing at East Devon District Council last month, the council has now confirmed that the pub’s premises licence will be amended to include the “addition of two conditions”.

These have been communicated to all parties concerned, and no appeals have been submitted to the council.

“Once the premises licence has been updated to reflect the decision notice, it will be available to view on the public register,” a spokesperson for the council said.

“No other changes or amendments were made to the licence, and the additional conditions only apply to the week on which the Sidmouth Folk Festival takes place.”

At the hearing where the council’s licensing and enforcement sub-committee heard evidence about the complaint, Ian Winter, an environmental health officer from the council, said out of six recordings, two showed brief spikes in decibel (dB) levels, but that these soon returned to acceptable levels.

“When I looked at the recordings in more detail, one on 6 August showed [elevated sound levels] in relation to a song being played, and this is a female singer performing Rolling in the Deep , which has a very strong acoustic vocal element,” he said at the meeting on 8 October.

“So while the general noise level from the instruments was okay, the elevated levels came from the vocals, and that comes down to demonstrating effective control of the mixer desk to reduce the vocals slightly.”

Mr Winter added that the audience were also “very loud trying to sing those higher notes”, but that following that spike in sound caused by Adele’s anthem, “noise did reduce”, so “the one song was problematic but the hour after, the noise levels were back at acceptable levels”.

A detailed 11-page report by Mr Winters stated there was “no evidence” of excessively loud music, but suggested a potential maximum level for music in the pub’s beer garden.

The report added that setting a 96 dB limit – measured one metre in front of a main stage speaker – should “strike a practical balance between enforcing appropriate noise controls and avoiding excessive restrictions on the premises”.

Music at that level should reduce to around 70dB at the window of the resident who has spearheaded the complaint, Steven Chalkley, and therefore be around the 44 dB level inside his home, the report stated.

Sound of around 45 dB is comparable to a “quiet refrigerator, soft conversation, the sound of a washing machine, or a keyboard typing”, Mr Winter said in his report, noting that music is often perceived to be louder than it actually is due to its contrast with the surrounding soundscape.

Members of the committee asked how sound could be managed from acts performing at the pub, and Mr Winter said that it could relate to building up more skills and expertise on the sound mixing desk, and possibly having more equipment.

The exact details of the new conditions, though, will be published soon.

The owners of the Anchor Inn declined to comment.