RESIDENTS of the area around a posh golf club say that their lives are being ruined by punters' noise.
Locals living near the Greenway Hall Golf Club in Stockton Brook, Staffordshire, say that the events at the venue have become "intolerable".
They claim that they are tormented by "excessive noise", litter and "pools of vomit" in the street, as they objected to plans to extend the licence for the space outside the former clubhouse, which has been converted into a restaurant and bar.
The current rules allow the venue, which includes a marquee, to broadcast recorded music between 11am and 12.30am and serve alcohol from 9am to 12.30am.
However, if their application is successful, they will also be allowed to play amplified music in the marquee between 9am and 11am, with no noise controls.
Sybil Ralphs, who used to lead the district council, told Stoke-on-Trent Live: "In the morning you’ll find puddles of vomit, that early morning joggers and people walking their dogs have to negotiate.
The noise of the cars collecting people, the sounding of horns, the abuse shouted below bedrooms windows, the cans and bottles that are thrown into gardens - it’s just becoming intolerable."
Sybil's neighbour Kate Rose alleged that she had even had homophobic abuse hurled at her when she confronted a crowd leaving the venue at 1am.
She fumed: "I now feel unable to go out and challenge anybody, and I’m intimidated when I go out and walk my dog if there are groups of men - and sometimes women - walking past my property.
"I get woken up most weekends, and over the last two weeks, I’ve been woken up on Monday, Tuesday and Friday night between the hours of half past ten and midnight.
"The level of clientele that are accessing [the venue], compared to when it was run as a golf course clubhouse, has gone down significantly."
Fellow resident Wes Machin added that the issues have become "unbearable".
He said: "My family say they don’t want to come home at night, and I don’t want to come home from work.
"It’s changed my life and it’s changed the lives of my family. We want Lockside to succeed, but we don’t want it to succeed at the expense of our happiness."
In a statement, the venue's owners said that they "understand" the concerns that have been raised by the community.
They said: "We have met with the local residents on a number of occasions and have volunteered further conditions to be applied to the licence.
"[These included] having no music at all in the marquee area.., noise monitoring systems and offered that any celebrations, birthday parties and weddings planned for the marquee area would be covered by Temporary Event Notices."
Brett Barlow, one of the owners, added: "What we wanted to do when we opened it was to open as a high-end restaurant/bar, as it was previously, but take it to the next level.
"We’re local lads, I live less than a mile away, and it used to be our local."
Staffordshire Moorland District Council confirmed that it received six complaints about noise in the period between March 18 and April 3.
The council's environmental health department said in its report that granting the extended licence would create a "public nuisance".
The club has previously hit the headlines when cops were forced to commandeer five golf buggies to tackle an eight-man brawl on the course, though that was before the current owners took it over.
Lockside at Greenway Hall has been approached for comment.
