Old Auction House Near the Pantiles Seeks Later Licence as Neighbours Object Over Noise

Tunbridge Wells councillors will decide on Thursday 1 October whether The Old Auction House on Linden Park Road can sell alcohol and play music until 23:59 every day. Seven neighbours have objected, mainly over noise. The venue says it only wants flexibility for occasional private events and that it already closes at midnight.

The Old Auction House holds a premises licence issued in August 2023. It applied on 2 July to change it, and the council's licensing sub-committee will hear the application at 11.30am in the Town Hall council chamber. The venue wants to move alcohol sales from 08:30-23:00 to 08:00-23:59, seven days a week, and to open from 08:00 to 23:59 rather than 08:30 to midnight. It also wants permission for live music and recorded music indoors from 23:00 to 23:59, every day. And it wants two conditions removed: that alcohol drunk on the premises is only sold to people seated at tables, and that it is only served by waiter service.

Seven people made relevant objections before the consultation closed on 6 September, most of them residents in and around The Pantiles. All raise public nuisance, and some also raise crime and disorder. Their main points, as they put them to the council: amplified music and heavy bass from past events can be heard inside their homes, even with windows shut; the building is single-skin brick with a large glazed roof lantern that they say does not contain sound; doors and windows have been left open during events; and an extra hour of music and drinking, with the venue open until 23:59, leaves no wind-down before customers leave and gather in the street. Some say events have already run over their permitted times, one neighbour says parties already go on until 1am, and another says complaints have been lodged and the police called at least once. These are the objectors' own accounts, and the papers don't test them. Two objectors point out that the application asks for late hours every day while describing them as "occasional", and one asks for that to be limited by an enforceable condition. Two fear that dropping the table-service conditions would allow standing, bar-style drinking, and a neighbour who says they enjoy live music in The Pantiles argues the venue should match that area's pattern of one evening a week, ending at 10pm. One objector asks that, if music after 23:00 is allowed at all, it should come with an independent acoustic assessment, a sealed noise limiter and a cap on the number of late events.

In its written replies, the venue says its closing time is already midnight, so it is asking to bring its licensed activities in line with the hours it may already be open, and that a longer period would let customers leave gradually rather than all at once. It says its evening events are mainly pre-booked private functions on Fridays and Saturdays, such as weddings, birthdays and corporate events, not a late-night public bar. It says it takes and keeps decibel readings, generally keeping sound around 60 dB or below, closes windows and doors from 9pm, stops customers taking glasses or bottles outside from 10pm, and has staff check outside towards the nearest homes while music plays and turn it down if it is audible. It also says Environmental Health, after an earlier noise complaint, told it there was no evidence of a statutory nuisance at that time. Those are the venue's own statements, and the council's papers don't verify them.

On 11 September the venue and Environmental Health, the council's noise regulators, agreed conditions to go on the licence if it is varied. They are a documented noise management plan whenever amplified music is played; recorded staff checks of noise at the edge of the premises at least every 60 minutes during amplified music; those records kept for 12 months; a written log of noise complaints and what was done about them; and notices at the exits asking guests to leave quietly. They do not include the measures one objector asked for, such as a noise limiter or a limit on late events.

Councillors Darrah, Patterson and Souper sit on the sub-committee. They can grant the variation with conditions or reject all or part of it. The chair announces the decision at the end of the hearing, and it takes effect straight away. Either the venue or anyone who made a relevant objection can appeal to the Magistrates' Court within 21 days of being told the decision. The meeting is open to the public and is webcast live, with a recording published afterwards. Source: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Licensing Sub-Committee agenda and reports pack, 1 October 2026