Music venue Cherry Bar last week received a ridiculous noise complaint from a nearby resident who had recently moved in to the area. That ill-advised move was widely ridiculed after Cherry Bar posted the letter to their Facebook page and now the bar have shared another letter from a resident, this time showing us the right way to deal with living next to a noisy venue.
Cherry Bar have shared the resident’s email of support via their Facebook page, prefacing it with an admission that they were nervous to open an email titled “NOISE COMPLAINTS” (Rightly so; that’s a lot of CAPS). Luckily, the email from a local by the name of Steve, turned out to be rather pleasant.
Steve wrote to the bar, which can be found on Melbourne’s AC/DC Lane, to throw their support behind the establishment, calling any noise complaints “ridiculous”.
Steve outed himself as a resident of AC/DC Lane, but said he’s confused about noise complaints coming from other locals. “You’ve got my full support,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bought in the building but for the laneway culture and venues like yours. I knew there would be noise – as should every buyer or renter who did any due diligence.”
He closed by offering a strong word of advice, spruiking the cultural strength of Melbourne as a defining characteristic of the city. “Don’t back down to a ‘loud’ minority,” he says. “The rest of us might not speak out frequently but venues like Cherry Bar are the reason that Melbourne is a fantastic place to live.”
The venue later commented on the Facebook post, saying, “This is how we roll in AC/DC Lane. Cherry Bar closes at 5am. Then up to Steve’s for the after-party.”
Cherry Bar’s recent noise complaint, written by an unnamed resident of a nearby 12-storey development, threatened legal action if action wasn’t taken. “I have read about the noise restrictions in the CBD and will consider reporting to the City of Melbourne or the Victoria Police if this matter is not solved within the next week,” the complaint read.
Victoria’s new Agent of Change laws will help protect venues such as Cherry Bar from noise complaints by making residential developers responsible for the costs of soundproofing new buildings.
The laws do not apply to existing residencies, and so are too late for Cherry Bar, but the venue ran a successful crowdfunding campaign earlier this year to raise funds for soundproofing renovations.
