Wellington venue owners say noise complaints are ruining live music

Tuesday, 8 October 2024

Wellington City Council is reviewing its approach to noise control for live music.

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Nearly every day for months, Valhalla bar on Vivian Street had noise complaints.

It wasn’t just on bass-heavy late nights that owner Ben Mulchin was receiving the calls either ‒ 5.30pm sound checks or acoustic style playing would have to be turned down until becoming just background noise.

Often, the dramatic change would lose half the crowd.

“People just leave because the show they've seen, the soul’s been gutted out,” Mulchin said.

Valhalla is among a group of live music venues in Wellington that might see changes in the way council approaches noise control.

The district plan review aimed to investigate several solutions, like whether an overlay could be placed on music venues outside the current entertainment precinct on Courtaney Place or whether noise control regulations could be amended to make live music performances more permissible up until 12am on Friday and Saturdays.

Ben Mulchin, owner of Valhalla, had noise complaints for nine months.

In 2023, Wellington City Council received 117 inner city noise complaints about venues or bars, 6.5% of the total number of noise complaints received in the inner city.

Out of the 60 noise complaints in the past six months, five notices were served on bars for excessive noise.

But data showed noise complaints decreased after a significant population increase in the inner city, from 410 in the year 2000 to 117 annual complaints in 2023, likely due to the implementation of the minimum sound insulation requirements for apartments in the district plan.

Tim Ward has owned music venues, bars and clubs in Wellington since the 90s.

Tim Ward has owned a slew of bars since the 90s ‒ Hole in the Wall, Matterhorn, Shopping Club, Good Luck Bar, The Hunter Lounge, San Fran, Club 121 and B Space.

When Hole in the Wall opened in 1994, Ward said there were very few inner city apartments. At Shopping Club, he was throwing live gigs outside.

Noise complaints only started to become recurrent in the late 2000s at his Cuba Street bar San Fran, a time when office blocks were being converted to apartments.

But he said even new apartment builds were not robust enough in their insulation and could end the life of a business that’ had been there for a long time.

Luckily, Ward was mostly able to manage the complaints through talking with the complainants one on one.

Ward wanted to see planning changes for any new developments, pushing for a radius around existing music venues to require a greater level of insulation than the current code.

“It's important to move quickly with protections for the creative arts sector, in particular live music venues, to protect them from the increase in inner city living,” he said.

Meow has been receiving noise complaints from new apartments in the area.

“The data shows the creative industry of film, music and television has a greater economic output than dairy farming as a whole in New Zealand and we're incredibly valuable to the economy.”

After a series of noise complaints led to a challenged liquor licence, Meow co-owners Rahine O’Rielly and Damian Jones spent over $100,000 refurbishing their bar, upgrading their sound systems, adding extra walls and moving the stage to redirect the sound.

O’Rielly said it was “a constant stress” and in 2019, their bar Caroline closed due to noise complaints and rent increases.

The bar also shuts at 12am most weekends, and 11pm during the week in an attempt to “keep on the good side” of their neighbours.

Meow Nui, also owned by the two and waiting for its liquor licence before it can open, had had extensive work done to ensure there was minimal sound leakage.

O’Rielly said there needed to be more recognition of both the social and economic benefits music venues brought to Wellington.

She called for apartments to be built fit for purpose after the bar received complaints from the new apartment building the night residents moved in.

“Something has to give, we either have to have protection or else you’re going to lose the music venues.”

Daniel Webster, the policy representative of the E tū Musicians’ Union, called music venues the “lifeblood” of music.

“We’re in this situation where we are pushing for urban densification which is great for live music, but at the same time, we’ve got to do that in a way that’s not going to push out those activities that make inner city a desirable place to live in the first place.”

He said while music venues were doing “everything right” to meet the noise emission thresholds for their zone, when it came to enforcement it was entirely subjective.

He called for council to measure sound on sound meters before issuing complaints.

Independent Music Venues Aotearoa project manager Taylor MacGregor said the council putting measures in place to support a vibrant night life gave him confidence they have a long term future in the city.

“Seeing these places as destinations, bringing people in, engaging with the culture and community, they add real value to the central city.”

Councillor Teri O’Neill said with an expected 80,000 to 100,000 people expected to move into the central city over the next 10 years, the council needed to think proactively about protecting art.

“If a show gets shut down during sound check, it's thousands and thousands of dollars of lost income for the people putting on the show and for businesses around the area of the show that get a better economic benefit.”

She wanted more proactive education in teaching musicians about the local sound restrictions, rather than going in straight away and “slapping a fine or removing the gear”.

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