One of York’s most popular destination pubs could be put at risk by the proposed Coney Street transformation, its owners say.
Yates, on Church Lane, is very close to some of the big changes being put forward by the Helmsley Group, as part of its ambitious Coney Street Riverside project.
The pub is next door to the rear of Boots, which is earmarked for demolition.
A new building in place of Boots would be home to student accommodation on its upper floors. That would be separated from Yates by Waterloo Place, a new walkway down to the Ouse.
Yates on Church Lane is owned by the Stonegate Pub Group, which says it has traded successfully as a late-night entertainment venue since 1963.
In its objection to the Coney Street development, the Stonegate group say: “The late night bar has a customer capacity of c800 people and offers live and recorded music to customers, TV sports, and an extensive drinks offering with food available and special events.
“The terrace area at the venue is very large and has an unlimited customer capacity. This outside area, that lies in very close proximity to the planning application site, is regularly used by large groups of customers until closing time.
“There have been very few complaints from neighbouring properties about noise and disturbance from lawful operations taking place at the site in the past 60 years of successful trading, including the outside terrace.”
However, that could change. Putting residential accommodation almost next door to Yates “will increase the potential for complaints by the new residents in respect of these established late-night uses”.
Such complaints could lead to new licensing restrictions being imposed on Yates.
“This in turn would adversely harm the profitability and viability of the venue, which could threaten the operation’s survival; as well as potentially impacting upon other local, late-night, entertainment venues.”
The objection says that 30 people are directly employed at the pub and 25 are indirectly employed, including cleaners and DJs. Their livelihoods could be put at risk.
Long-established licensed premises in Westminster, London, have been forced to close due to complaints from new neighbouring residents, it adds.
Stonegate believes that “the applicant has under-assessed the very real issue of noise pollution” and its impact on the proposed residential accommodation.
At the very least, conditions must be imposed on the development to ensure “all habitable rooms” are properly soundproofed.
Living rooms and bedrooms would need to be positioned “away from existing established external noise sources” and restrictions should include “the requirement to have triple glazed, fixed shut windows on all new windows on the elevations”.
And the Stonegate Pub Group says that it is not just Yates that could be affected.
It concludes: “The result could lead to closure of a number of employment generating long-established leisure venues.”
In response to other concerns about the Coney Street regeneration, the Helmsley Group has said it wants to continue to work with key stakeholders throughout the consultation period.
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