Row over pub’s outdoor bar and live music proposal

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

A county council’s licensing sub-committee has five days to decide whether a pub can host an outdoor bar with music following a meeting this week.

Members met at Coed Pella to consider an application from the Blue Bell on Castle Street in Conwy, which is seeking permission for up to 15 live music events a year in its beer garden.

Under the proposals, outdoor performances would finish at 8pm, with the garden bar closing by 11pm, and measures put in place to manage noise and dispersal. The beer garden itself is already allowed to operate.

The plans include employing security at weekends and during events. The licensing application follows discussions with the council’s environmental health department, but – despite support from local musicians – has drawn objections from two residents.

Miss Angharad Jones lives adjacent to the pub and instructed Richard Buxton Solicitors to write to the council in objection. Miss Jones said she moved in in 2015 after buying her Grade Two* Listed home in 2008 and carrying out renovation.

She claimed to have sent 700 recordings to the council on its noise app. “Is all this effort to be destroyed by the selfish, damaging behaviour of a neighbour?” she said, speaking at the meeting.

“Throughout 2025, but mainly in the summer, the very loud bass beat music was played through these amplifiers in their yard, not Welsh music and Irish folk music.

“This was boom, boom, boom, boom, on and on, day after day, from morning till midnight, and this without a licence.

“Now they are trying to legitimise their actions by applying to a different council department for an extension of their licence to play music in the yard from 11:00 hours to midnight every day.”

Anti social behaviour 

Thomas Stock also wrote to the council and complained at the hearing that officers claimed they had not received his “sixteen emails” with videos showing anti-social behaviour.

“There is ongoing anti-social behaviour from the pub. I’ve lived in Conwy for 10 years, directly opposite, and the last two years have been absolute hell!” he said.

He added: “No resident – regardless of any public house – should be put through this sort of thing. The things you see are unbelievable.” He claimed he had seen fighting in the street, anti-social behaviour, and vandalism after hours.

But the council’s head of licensing, John Donnelly, reminded the committee the pub wasn’t responsible for anti-social behaviour on the streets after hours.

In defence

Defending the pub on behalf of landlords Sonia and Gary Cadwell, the agent representing them said the couple were passionate about the pub, as well as being professional and conscientious to neighbours.

The agent disputed the reported noise and said the couple had spent £100,000 on improving the pub, which had recently had £4,000 spent on its double-glazing, further reducing noise.

He also claimed the landlords had the Pub Watch scheme’s support, insisting neither the police nor the council’s environmental health department objected to the “long-established” pub’s plans after they had traded for “many years”.

He summed up: “No authorities have objected, and they are the experts in their field. Sonia and Gary have very good working relationships with North Wales Police and environmental health. The list goes on.

“She’s (Sonia) very proactive, and I think that is clear to see from that comprehensive indoor and outdoor (noise) policy that’s in place, and as I alluded to earlier, if those authorities haven’t objected, I would submit that it is reasonable for your committee to share that view.”

Backed by local community 

The pub’s application has been backed by members of the local music community, who described the venue as an important hub supporting live performers and contributing to a “thriving” local scene.

Supporters argued the current management, who took over in 2024, has improved the venue, with appropriate security and efforts made to control sound levels.

The Blue Bell currently holds a licence for indoor music, but the application seeks to formalise and limit outdoor events under specific conditions. The sub-committee must now decide whether to grant the licence as applied for, modify the conditions, or refuse it altogether.

A decision is expected within five working days.