Residents of Bunkers Hill, Stirling and Nahoon have drafted a petition to protest against a music lounge operating from the Phillip Kahts softball stadium in Bunkers Hill.
They said the lounge was blasting the suburbs with late-night music.
The venue, which has a Facebook page called the Ground X Music Lounge, hosts late-night music events, one of which was ironically touted as “No Sleep in the City”.
Bunkers Hill resident Linda Warner said the sound system was set so loud that it reverberated into Bunkers Hill, Nahoon and Woodleigh into the early hours of the morning.
“It is really, really loud and some residents say their windows shake. We can’t understand how a nightclub is allowed in the middle of a residential area,” said Warner, who arranged for a BCM official to measure “noise pollution” levels and is awaiting results.
She said hundreds had signed the petition, which has been circulating since the beginning of this week.
Casabella Guesthouse manager Philly Gasa said she had signed the petition because her guests were unable to sleep.
“It is like a party all night and is unfair on our guests who complain in the morning. They can party until 10pm but not the whole night.”
Legends Marathon owner Luthando Bara said he had been approached by the Buffalo Softball Association to partner with them to restore the “completely vandalised facility” and “hive of criminality” into a music lounge which operates from Thursday to Sunday and which he said would generate funds for softball development in the city.
“As part of our agreement I would revive the bar, which under previous owners was called Dug-Out Bar which ran for years until they pulled out.
“It is now called Ground X Music Lounge operating exactly where Dug-Out Bar operated.”
He said residents were mistaking the noise generated by events not associated with Ground X Music Lounge, like the recent University of Fort Hare centenary and the Department of Sport, Art and Culture’s Africa Day celebrations, with the music lounge because they had placed their PA systems and stage in the field outside the building.
“I am very sympathetic with the concerns raised around noise and are understandable, but I can guarantee that it is not a result of the normal running of the bar. I have tried using my decibel reader to test it.”
He said bars also operated from other municipal-owned facilities including the old Selbornian Club, East London Golf Course and Buffalo Park stadium.
DA ward councillor for the area Isabel Thompson said the facility was zoned as a sporting facility.
She said the softball association leased the building from BCM.
“They are not allowed to sub-let according to BCM rules.”
She said she had been receiving about 40 phone calls and e-mails of complaint daily about the noise from Phillip Kahts.
She said a meeting “open to all” would be held at the softball club on Monday evening at 6pm in order to come to an “amicable agreement”.
Bara said he would attend the meeting.
BCM had not responded to questions by the time of writing. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za