Managers of the North Star in Steventon are accused of allowing ‘abusive’ noise and driving residents out of their home with the volume.

But many locals want it to keep its licence and said it serves as the ‘heart of the village’.

Some claim the pub has ‘repeatedly subjected [them] to extreme noise nuisance from loud amplified music’, just metres from their home. On one occasion, they said it was so loud that they had to leave.

 

Council environmental health officers were called to a property near the pub on June 17 and found music was ‘highly intrusive…and represented an unreasonable impact on the quiet enjoyment of the complainant’s property’.

The music included a band’s take on the Foo Fighters’ Times Like These and the Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

It is the latest in a catalogue of complaints from residents about noise following five others since May 2013.

Earlier this year, the drummer of a band which performed at the North Star wrote on Facebook: “[As] Soon as I get the cymbals up we’re going to upset the neighbours.”

But there is support for the pub, with 29 letters supporting it submitted to Vale of White Horse District Council.

Many complaints incorrectly asserted that just one person had complained and jeopardised the pub’s licence. In fact, two complaints were issued.

Other residents said the council’s response to the complaints has been ‘draconian’ .

While others said the pub is ‘the centre of the village in every way’, running charity events and uniting Steventon.

One resident said: “Steventon is a proper old-fashioned village with a proper old-fashioned pub. While most village pubs have had to convert themselves into restaurants to avoid closure, the North Star retains the original flavour of a historic pub.

“It is public house in the original sense of the word in that it has no bar with drinks served from the back room and a landlord who will join you at the table for a chat.”

Others complained that the noise from the annual Truck Festivaltaking place nearby was far more disruptive than they had ever heard from the pub.

In 2003, the pub hit the headlines after its owner went on the rampage and repeatedly drove a digger into it after his staff refused to serve him a drink.

Robert Tyrrell drove into it repeatedly following a New Year’s party.

He had only bought the pub a month earlier.

Tyrrell admitted criminal damage and being reckless as to whether the lives of others would be endangered.

Vale of White Horse District Council’s licensing committee will decide whether to revoke the pub’s licence tomorrow.

Article by: The Oxford Mail (John Carter), to read the article in full click here.