Southampton bar granted table extension after 'bikini drone' claim

Quayside Bar, which occupies the ground floor of the Azera House residential block in Centenary Quay, has been granted temporary planning permission to increase the capacity of its outdoor space from ten tables and 40 chairs to 20 tables and 60 chairs.

It said it was needed to boost business as it is ‘currently operating at a loss’ and has 19 staff to support.

The decision was made at a planning meeting of Southampton City Council on Tuesday following a debate which lasted almost three hours.

Some objecting residents living in Azera House had told the council that increasing the capacity will exaggerate problems with the bar and urged councillors not to grant approval.

‘Abuse and violence’

Sarah Riles, representing the 18 residents of Azera House who objected, said: “(We) frequently witness poor behaviour from patrons and staff.

“Management ignores it and does not practically manage this behaviour at any time of the day or night.

“Frequently, residents are unable to get to their front entrance without having to ask intoxicated bar-goers to move. We’ve been met with abuse and sometimes violence getting to our own homes.”

Ms Riles claimed there is ‘constant bad language, screaming and shrieking’.

“We cannot relax. We cannot work. We cannot sleep,” she said.

Ms Riles also claimed that the bar is already operating 18 tables, even though it only had current planning permission for ten, and that 120 people have been counted on the terrace.

“Even throughout this application process, they continue to breach some requirements with no consequence,” she said.

Ms Riles told the planning panel that residents have been ‘intimidated’ by the bar and each made to believe they are ‘the only person with the problem’.

“(We) now know that that is very far from the case, and we are grateful that we have felt strong enough as a community to come together and face up to this intimidating behaviour.”

She said the management seem to believe that the residents have a ‘vendetta’ against them which they did not.

Other issues the residents said they are facing were ‘impingement of privacy’ as the establishment allegedly flew drones ‘looking into our homes’ – and on one occasion, Ms Riles said there was a resident ‘laying on her balcony in her bikini and a drone was two metres away from her’.

More problems include rats ‘running riot’, litter ‘blowing into the river’ and the noise coming from the music, talking and the moving of metal tables, the meeting heard.

‘Need the council’s backing’

Mike Lawrence, the co-founder of Quayside Bar told the planning committee that the bar is ‘currently operating at a loss’ and said that it needed the council’s backing.

He said: “We appreciate the comments of the objectors, but I would point out there are 18 objectors and there are 110 flats.

“We also have large numbers of members of the block that come down every week, get the lift down, walk through the door, come in and sit on the terrace and have a nice drink.

“The reason we are desperate to look at the number of seats outside is to give us, and afford us, the flexibility to manage when people come down at peak times.

“If an individual comes down and sits at one of the tables for four, we lose that table for the duration of the evening.

“One person can come down and have three or four pints of Moreti, enjoy the sunset – four pints of Moreti is about £20. (In a) three or four hour period, if the four-seat tables can actually be used effectively to accommodate guests in parties of four or more, we might be taking three or four hundred pounds.”

Mr Lawrence said the business was not only delivering its vision, but also ‘the vision of the council’ – by getting people to engage with the river with Quayside Bar the only waterfront bar on the east side of the city.

Mr Lawrence added that in May, he invited objectors from Azera House to come down for coffee and to talk – but no one came.

A ‘peace deal’

Woolston ward councillor Warwick Payne has held meetings with both sides of the argument and attended the planning meeting to call for a ‘peace deal’.

He said: “The primary reason I have come here today (is for) a peace deal – that is what I’m looking for – a question of everyone getting on. Let’s live and let live with this.

The councillor, who, despite saying ‘objectors need to be listened to’ officially backed the application.

He said that Centenary Quay, of which the bar is part of,  ‘gave us our chance to be reborn’.

“Indeed in principle, Quayside has been a good thing for our community.

“It is an example of Woolston regenerating itself.

“When the shipyard closed down we were looking for a new identity, a new vision, something we did. We didn’t build Spitfires anymore, we didn’t build warships anymore – what was our contribution?

“Centenary Quay gave us our chance to be reborn.”

The city council granted temporary planning permission to the bar, with several conditions attached – and the bar will now be allowed to have the ten extra tables until reapplication in September 2024.