Patching's Fox Inn off A27 near Worthing keeps licence but told off for noise breaches

But Simon Boxall, who owns The Fox, in Patching, has been told to remove his designated premises supervisor and comply with a number of conditions imposed by the Environmental Health team.

Mr Boxall attended a meeting of the licensing sub-committee on Monday (March 6) where members were told that he had been hosting events in a marquee outside of the dates allowed by his licence.

While he had permission to hold events between April and October, noise complaints were received up to December.

Mr Boxall acknowledged that he had breached licensing laws but told the meeting that the pub would not survive without the use of the marquee.

He said: “I hold my hands up that I breached my licensing laws but, as a pub owner who employs 25 people, all with mortgages, rent and children, please understand that the cost of living crisis has led me to where I sit today.

“My electric has gone up to £1,900 per week, our gas is £1,000 a week.”

S&S@The Fox, Patching Ltd, of which Mr Boxall and Siobhan Murphy are directors, bought the pub a year ago.

Mr Boxall told the meeting that a dispute with a neighbour over the siting of a fence had ’caused us to fall out’.

Repeated noise complaints started being made to the council which he said left him ‘feeling very victimised’.

An officer acknowledged that, while there had been complaints from two people, the vast majority had come from only one.

Emails of support for the pub were shared with committee members.

The request for a review of the premises licence was made by the Environmental Health team on the grounds that the objective to prevent public nuisance had been ‘undermined’.

An officer told the meeting that the noise abatement notice had been served on September 12 and noise recording equipment was installed in a neighbour’s home.

She said breaches were witnessed four times in December, with average noise levels in excess of recommendations from the World Health Organisation.

She added that, to meet those recommendations, the volume of music coming from The Fox would have needed to be ‘significantly reduced by more than half’.

The committee was told that the marquee was ‘not structurally suitable’ to hold any events with amplified music or speech without causing a nuisance.

The officer added: “Significant alterations to the structure and equipment may be sufficient to allow some events to take place but this would need to be properly assessed installed and tested by an acoustic consultant.”

Mr Boxall refuted claims that he had not made a significant effort to deal with the problem and said he had ‘tried to be proactive’.

The council’s licensing officer did not think Mr Boxall’s licence should be revoked, suggesting that a ‘period of suspension may be appropriate’.

The committee, though, felt it was enough to remove Ms Murphy from her role as Designated Premises Supervisor and impose eight conditions from the Environmental Health team.

They included outdoor amplified music/voices only being allowed between noon and 10pm Monday to Saturday and between noon and 9.30pm on Sunday and bank holidays.