Petition to stop Wetherspoon Hotel gets 2000 signatures

28 February 2017

More than 2000 people have signed a petition to stop Wetherspoon building a hotel above The Gatekeeper Pub on Westgate Street.

Cardiff Council has approved plans for 17 bedrooms above the bar.

But a petition has been set up asking the Welsh Assembly to reject the plans because people are worried it will affect venues nearby.

Nightclubs on neighboring Womanby Street tried to stop the planning application and say a hotel will be bad for business. They say they’re worried people staying in the hotel will complain about noise from the bars and clubs nearby.

Cardiff City Council have said the pub chain will have to sound proof rooms but venues say this won’t be enough.

Ed Townend is a sound engineer and the founder of Cardiff Music Awards. He says this decision is bad for the live music scene in the city.

“If you’re going to have a hotel next to live music venues there is definitely the likelihood there’ll be noise complaints. And that does threaten local independent music venues that are already under threat.

“The objections put in place against the hotel have been met by the condition that the rooms need to be sound proofed. I’ve looked into the planning permissions and as a sound engineer I am baffled at how they are going to do it.

“I think the only solution is to protect these music venues and to make sure the council knows that those noise complaints are completely unfair because you’re building a hotel on a popular music venue street.”

A spokesperson from Wetherspoon says:

“We are fully aware of the planning detail, with regards sound proofing, and we do not see any reason why this would have an impact on the live music venues in the area.”

Work on the hotel will start later this year.

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