Public Meeting at the Globe

Mandy said, at the meeting at the school, that there would be an opportunity to meet Hilary Lawson and talk to him this evening at the Globe.
It was a much smaller gathering, and we sat upstairs in the gallery - the main hall has floorboards up to get at wiring, and there's a load of scaffolding along one side wall that they referred to as the "temporary mezzanine". Hilary Lawson said they want to put another one up against the other wall, to make more of a theatre space down below. He did offer to show us round the lower floor, too, but the meeting went on so long that we didn't, in the end.
Mary Fellowes and Nigel Birch were there, as the local councillors - and once Nigel's mind is made up, it's very hard to convince him otherwise. His refrain was "It's in the wrong place." Mary's main point was the problem of noise - even the Three Tuns has caused problems (though I've never noticed any disturbance from there).
Nigel used to live opposite, in Poplar House, which is now studio flats, and he remembers when the Globe was a chapel - and the noise of half a dozen old ladies singing hymns with the organ carried half way down Broad Street. The Globe is slightly elevated, which means sound carries further.
Hilary and Mandy said that any music events they put on would be done in the basement area, which does not have the large windows and would be easier to keep soundproofed. They weren't entirely sure what sort of music, only that it wouldn't be the same sort as Clyro Court.
Hilary said that he was very happy to work with people and have a conversation about the space - but the problems that the local residents brought up at the meeting seem to be intractable ones that any owner of the Globe could do nothing about. They can have no power over where people park in the area, however much they would like them to walk or park on the main car park, and they can have no power over the level of noise when people have left the premises.
The ladies of the NW Trust were there, (and you'd have to go a long way to find another pair of such sweet old ladies). They mentioned the time that they put on a salsa band in the Globe - and they got lots of complaints about the noise for that. They were broadly sympathetic to the new owner, and might even consider putting events on there themselves, but they do see the problems of the site, as they have dealt with them first hand.
Mandy seemed very clued up about the licensing situation now, and said that there was no point coming to an agreement with the police until the hearing on the license. Any negotiations would be done on the day.
When pressed about the possibility of opening as an arts centre without a license, I got the feeling that it wasn't an option that Hilary Lawson wanted to consider. He also seemed pretty resistant to the idea of closing earlier - he said that places that closed earlier didn't have the same sort of buzz as the ones that stayed open late, which was the sort of atmosphere he wanted to promote.
The other problem, of course, is smokers, who would have to congregate outside whether there was drinking going on or not, and if they're open late at night, sound carries.
So there it is - the next stage is the licensing hearing, and we'll just have to wait and see what they decide.
In the meantime, they have a huge amount of work to do if they want to be open for the Festival - and as Mary said: "Not being funny - but you will be watched." The last thing she did at the meeting was to ask Hilary for his phone number - "because if I'm awake, I want to make sure you are too!"