The closing night of popular Gold Coast venue NightQuarter has been tainted after noise regulation officers from the Office of Liquor and Gaming "harassed" owners during its final show.
As reported by Gold Coast Bulletin, the venue, which was forced to shut down after failing to reach an agreement with its landlord Scentre Group over a massive rent increase, was hosting UB40 feat Ali, Astro & Mickey when four officers approached owners Michelle Christoe and Ian Van der Woude about noise limits.
In comments provided to The Music, Christoe said she was frustrated that the noise restrictions had been such a "big consideration" in the venue's closure and was upset "they felt the need to be there".
"NightQuarter had been threatened to have its db limit reduced by Liquor Licensing. Such a threat would of resulted in NightQuarter having no live music entertainment which was a big consideration in its closure," she said.
"This continued on the night of the closure where we were harassed by four liquor licence officers showing up trying to make a point about the venue's noise limits. My husband Ian and I were very upset that on our last night where we had nearing 8,000 members of the community there to celebrate with us, that they felt the need to be there.
"It seems unfair that you can have a handful of residents that can lodge a complaint to Liquor Licensing when they can just hear music to put such a music facility at jeopardy when it is complying with the noise limits set by professional acoustic engineers. To resolve the issue would of cost us several hundred thousand dollars whereas it would of been less if we had to comply to just one party, the Gold Coast City Council.
"We had already recently upgraded the venue with equipment and sound absorption points to manage noise and have since had no formal complaints. We take our production and sound limits very seriously. All venues are suffering in this area and the issue limits us in our site considerations when looking for a new venue."
Since the announcement of its closure, the community has rallied behind the venue in a push to save it. Christoe has said the support has been so "overwhelming" that there is a very real chance the live music hub could be back very soon.
"Our goal is to have something back up and operational before the end of the year," she revealed to The Music.
The news comes following a similar outcry in Brisbane where calls for changes to "one-size-fits-all" Brisbane City Council noise regulations have ramped up.
“What good is all this new development if there’s nowhere left to play music?" city councillor Jonathan Sri told The Music.
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