New Licence for the Globe

The mobile phone mast wasn't the only controversial issue discussed at last week's council meeting. There were nine members of the public there (including me, but I was only there to take notes). Three of them came because of the mast, and the other five were there because of the Globe. One of them was Mandy, to speak for the Globe, and she was able to clear up a few points about the times that they have asked for.
The rules about temporary licences for special events changed recently, and the licencing body now has to take into consideration such matters as noise. The Globe wants to hold events, like Le Crunch and How The Light Gets In, which spill over from the building into tents on the little field outside. They also want events to continue at certain times until 2.30am. Events in the tents would finish at midnight, with only the main building going on until 2.30am, but then there would be people leaving and making some noise as they went. They also want to be able to serve drinks up to 2am.
Gareth Ratcliffe has had some letters of complaint, and also some letters of support, and he wanted to have any further information sent on to him (other councillors have also been approached) so that he has as much evidence as possible when he speaks to the licencing body. The police, licencing and environmental health people have all met with Gareth to discuss this already.
It was pointed out that the type of event hosted by the Globe has changed since it first opened - there are fewer DJ nights now,and more talking and acoustic events. There's also a new management team. Even the opponents of the granting of the new licence said that the events that go on at the Globe during the day are fine, and an asset to the town - it's just the noise at night.
The Noise Abatement Officer, Dan Thomas, will be monitoring the situation - and it was mentioned that the Wheatsheaf finally lost its licence because of continuing late night noise.
When it was time for the public to ask questions, one person asked if there would be someone at the Globe in the evenings for a neighbour to go to when it was too noisy. Someone else asked if the Globe might need a bouncer (though I think they're called something else these days).
As a new PCSO for Hay had been discussed earlier in the evening, it was suggested that this is just the sort of occasion that such a person should be patrolling the nearby streets.
What surprised me about the people commenting was the level of fear they have. I was chatting with several of the people who had come to talk to the council after we went out (leaving the councillors to plough on with the routine business until the wee small hours!). Some of them are convinced that, if they give their names when they complain, there will be vandalism done to their property, or even "heavies" coming round to visit them! It didn't help that, on a previous occasion, names and addresses of people who had complained about the Globe were passed on to the Globe from the Council, quite wrongly - and Fiona Howard gave her assurance that this would never happen again.
So now all that can be done is to wait for the licencing body to make its decision.