Manchester's Night and Day Café learns noise row verdict after long-running battle with council

Night and Day Café will continue to open as a nightclub — despite a judge upholding a noise abatement notice against it.

The Northern Quarter venue faced an uncertain future after Manchester City Council served a noise nuisance notice on it in November 2021 following complaints from a neighbour. That sparked a lengthy legal battle, costing roughly £160,000, which concluded on Monday.

Following four rounds of hearings which concluded in January, District Judge Margaret McCormack revealed her ruling in a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ court today. Speaking in courtroom one, she found that a nuisance was being caused by the DJ club nights that run from 11pm to 3am on Friday and Saturday nights.

That was because the use of the flat next door was ‘common and ordinary’, but the nightclub operation of Night and Day was not, she ruled. DJ McCormack said that Northern Quarter is a ‘lively, vibrant’ area, but as ‘Manchester is evolving’, its ‘usages are changing’ — which means the area can now be considered mixed use.

“In an ideal world, a balance would be able to be struck in the ability of the resident to enjoy their property and the venue to operate as a going concern. Sadly, due to a faulty party wall this is not possible,” DJ McCormack said in making her ruling.

Having found that a nuisance was being caused, the judge then said her remaining two options were to either dismiss the appeal or vary the notice. She opted for the latter.

And the variation chosen was ‘test profile one’, which is a set of restrictions designed by Peter Rogers, the expert appointed by Night and Day. Previously, venue owners said that profile would limit 56 percent of events, but allow it still to operate.

The judge continued: “I am satisfied that [test profile one] is a reasonable, practicable level which could be offered by sealed sound limiters to seal music levels. I am told the existing sound system can achieve this aim. I therefore amend the NAN [to say] Friday and Saturday use should not exceed the levels of test one. The measures are to be taken by professional acousticians and sealed in the system.”

‘Sealed in the system’ means the noise limiters cannot be tampered with by sound engineers on-the-ground. The venue now has 28 days to make the required changes. A full written judgement will be released to the public in due course.