New Cambridge bar owner says he is ‘not setting up a nightclub’ amid noise concerns

The owner of a new cafe and bar due to open in Cambridge said he is not “setting up a nightclub” after facing backlash from neighbours.

Matthew Taylor said he wants The Alcademy to be a ‘community hub’ offering tours, plays, classes, and film showings alongside the cafe and bar businesses.

However, neighbours have raised concerns about noise and the potential for people hanging around on the street drinking.

Mr Taylor applied to Cambridge City Council for a licence to open the bar in the ground floor and basement of 54 Chesterton Road, the site of the former HSBC bank.

He asked for permission to sell alcohol between 11am and 11pm from Monday to Saturday, and between 11am and 10.30pm on Sunday.

Permission was also requested to show plays, films, and play recorded music between 8am and 11pm on Monday to Saturday, and between 8am and 10.30pm on Sunday.

The licence application also asked for permission for live music to be played between 12pm and 11pm from Monday to Saturday, and between 12pm and 10.30pm on Sunday.

Mr Taylor said he had requested these hours to offer the business flexibility, but did not expect to be open during all the requested hours.

At a meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee on Monday (July 1) Mr Taylor told councillors he had been involved in businesses in Cambridge for around the past 10 years and highlighted that he had run a similar establishment at the Engineers House.

He said: “The objective in terms of the venue is to create a community based hub, we do not want to create another Wetherspoons.

“We want to do tours in Cambridge based on well known Cambridge personnel, academics and townees.

“The idea for the tours is to run these tours and the end point for each tour will be our venue, where there will be a discussion about the tour after it is completed.”

Mr Taylor said they also wanted to offer other events such as birthday parties, film showings, and wellbeing classes.

He addressed the noise concerns arguing they were “entirely unreasonable” and suggested that people had formed the wrong opinion of what he was hoping to open and that he was “setting up some nightclub”, which he said was not the case.

He told councillors that he had hired an acoustic engineer to assess the noise levels in the building, and claimed it was not possible to hear any music being played in the basement from the outside.

However, some who had raised concerns said they were not satisfied with Mr Taylor’s explanation.

Elizabeth Yarrow, who lives on the neighbouring Trafalgar Road, argued the licence applied for would allow the bar to potentially serve alcohol “all day, everyday”.

Alexis Mather, another neighbour, said there had been a “massive expansion” of places selling alcohol along Chesterton Road in recent years.

Ms Yarrow said she was concerned the new bar would “create additional harm” through adding to the cumulative impact of the number of bars and places that sell alcohol in the area.

Ben Rollings, who also lives nearby to the proposed bar, said most of the 21 objections to the licence came from people in the neighbouring roads.

The neighbours all said there was already a strong, close knit community in the area, highlighting that they had held a street party the day before the hearing.

However, they claimed the applicant had not properly consulted with them about the plans to open the new bar.

After considering the licence application and the objections to it in private, the sub-committee returned to the hearing and announced they would be granting the licence.

However, they added an additional condition that no alcohol could be drunk outside, and restricted the hours alcohol could be sold to between 12pm and 7pm from Monday to Sunday.