Star & Garter granted licence to hold events in local park

Glastonbury Festival legend and pub landlord Malcolm Haynes has won the right to hold up to 40 open-air events at a community space despite neighbours’ objections.

Residents in Montpelier, including Aardman Animations’ co-founder, fear the Star & Garter owner’s plans will have a “devastating” impact on hundreds of lives by turning the adjoining Albany Green into a “beer garden” and a summer-long “pop festival”.

But Haynes said he intended to hold free, community events and it wasn’t the case he wanted to hold pop festivals.

Bristol City Council licensing sub-committee granted Haynes’ application after hearing the police and the local authority’s regulatory services were satisfied and had agreed conditions.

It means the landlord, who created Glastonbury’s Dance Village and has organised St Paul’s Carnival, can hold up to eight events a year for the next five years, including two music concerts, for up to 3,000 people, although they can last only one day each and cannot be on consecutive days or weekends.

Haynes bought the Star & Garter from the family of Louis Hayles, better known as Dutty Ken, who ran it for almost 25 years and made the venue a cornerstone of the city’s music scene before his death in 2017.

Louis Hayles, AKA Dutty Ken, died in 2017. Photo: Bristol24/7

Huge crowds turned out to the reopening event two years later featuring a DJ set from Bristol music great Roni Size, a magic show by Dynamo and a raffle conducted by Emmy and Grammy award-winning US comedian Dave Chappelle.

Councillors granted Mr Haynes a one-year licence in January 2020 to hold up to eight events on the council-owned green but he managed to hold only one family fun day in September because of the pandemic.

He was back before the virtual sub-committee on Thursday, March 4, asking for a licence up to 2026 to avoid the expense of having to reapply annually, which was approved with similar conditions to before.

Margaret Mason, one of 25 neighbours who objected, told the meeting: “If the application is granted in full, it would have a devastating effect on the quality of life for hundreds of people for five years.

“It’s a small local pub in a small residential area, not a music destination, and you can’t mitigate the effect on the local community.

“I’m worried about the taking over of the green. To have it fenced off with security guards is not right.”

The pub reopened with a massive party in 2019. Photo: Martin Booth

She said some residents felt “intimidated” and were treated rudely when they complained about the noise from the reopening event in 2019.

“There was antisocial behaviour and people using front gardens as public toilets,” Mason said.

Householder Angela Le Peuple said: “We appreciate the time, effort and money Malcolm has put into the pub and I’m quite amazed at what he’s managed to do.

“But what he’s applying for is far too much over too long a period and using that common green space as an extension of the pub and making it a beer garden.”

Aardman co-founder David Sproxton said: “Eight events is every other week over the summer which puts the park out of bounds for a lot of local families and there are not a lot of facilities in the area for kids.

“There is an issue with noise. If 3,000 people do come in, most won’t be from the local community and they tend to hang around a lot longer than the official hours. Rowdiness does roll on into the wee small hours.”

He said it would be unfair to charge people to use a community green, adding: “We need to watch the creeping privatisation of a public space.”

Albany Green is situated next to the pub. Photo: Bristol Rocks

Haynes said: “They have all been free events and it is my intention to keep them as free events. I agree it’s a community park. As a publican I’ve been trying to do everything to do things for the community.

“I take argument with the view I’m taking the park away from the children and the community and that people seem to think I want to hold lots of pop festivals. That’s not the case at all.

“I want to do as Ken used to in the past. He would have two or three events a year, most of them unlicensed.

“I’m trying to do things by the book and run a safe event. I’m not trying to take over and put a pop festival on Albany Green.”

He said not all the events would be in the summer, such as activities at Easter, Bonfire Night and Christmas, so they would not be as often as people feared.

The licence allows alcohol sales during events on the green from midday to 10pm daily, live and recorded music, plays and dance performances from 12pm to 10pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and films on Fridays and Saturdays until 11pm.

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

Main photo: Pete Insole

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