Councillors to consider tighter restrictions on Southsea Cinema
Residents want tighter restrictions on Southsea Cinema following complaints about late-night music
New restrictions could be placed on Southsea Cinema after neighbours complained about events running into the early hours.
The Palmerston Road venue’s premises licence is to be reviewed by Portsmouth City Council’s licensing sub-committee next week following complaints about noise and the venue’s use for music events.
The review application has been submitted by two local residents and relates to the licensing objectives of preventing crime and disorder, preventing public nuisance and ensuring public safety.
A council report states: “This follows a protracted period of time, whereby some the activities that are now being run at these premises are severely impacting on their quality of life.
“Not only in relation to noise due to the cinema running heavily bass-reliant music events which has generated noise nuisance.”
They added that: “over a multi-year period spanning from 2023-2026, the venue has transitioned from a community cinema into a music/club venue.”
The application logs various drum and bass events between 2023 and 2026, with some events alleged to have continued until as late as 3am.
The resident also criticised how complaints had been handled, claiming there had been “a recurring and regular tactic used by the designated premises supervisor (DPS) to dismiss valid complaints”.
They added: “The DPS demonstrated a critical failure to maintain control over her premises by deflecting responsibility onto third parties during many of her events.”
The applicants are asking the committee to consider restrictions including reduced operating hours, a ban on “heavy electronic/bass-heavy club formats”, independent noise-limiting conditions and a change to the designated premises supervisor.
But the Portsmouth Film Society, which operates the venue, said it had acted in good faith to address concerns.
It said: “What we wish to underline that we have acted in good faith to address the sound complaints from our neighbours, but that it is an iterative process. We will never be able to completely eliminate sound leakage from our centre, but our efforts have been toward lowering the sound penetration to a reasonable level so that our neighbours can go about their business.
“We have a further concern that relations have devolved with certain neighbours such that we must question whether anything but complete silence and invisibility will be enough to satisfy.”
The licensing sub-committee will meet on October 6.