# stop the closure of our local guesthouse

STOP THE CLOSURE OF OUR LOCAL GUESTHOUSE

In the last 20 months Escape Hot Tub house has hosted 59 Groups of people. This includes families simply just enjoying time off work and school with their children, we’ve also had the stars of various musicals showing at the Sunderland empire/ theater royal. We have had people travel from Australia, France, Dubai, Hong Kong and various other parts of the UK to spend time with family or attend local event such as The Great North Run, The Tall Ships, The Sunderland Air Show, Newcastle Pride. We also have people stay for the weekend breaks who live locally and have had amazing feedback from every guest who has stayed with us. We have brilliant connections with theatre digs and have upcoming bookings made by the stars of shows on over the next 18 Months as well as family and group bookings made up to a year in advance.

This week we have received a final closure due to the possibility of noise disturbance. Although I have a letter from the police stating they believe the calls and the neighbours to be malicious and the person and the noise is probably caused by the pub . We employ local staff and now risk the possibility of having to downsize due to the sheer harrassment of the neighbours who have caused this , We employ a therapist, a hairstylist, housekeeping staff and a weekly gardener. Having worked my way up in the beauty industry, in property and now in the letting of my beautiful family guesthouse. I have always prided myself in the business I ran and I am devastated to inform everyone that unless we do something I may lose a business I have worked so hard to build up. We as a business have gone out of our way ensuring the local people’s needs are taken into account. We have a mandatory curfew which means the guests have to be out the hot tub and in the house by 10pm, we also have a refundable security deposit of £300 that is taken per booking to ensure that guests respect the house and the surroundings as is if it was there own ( which has never had to be witheld) We also installed a six foot sound proofing fence to ensure anyone in the hot tub garden during the day is not disturbing or distracting anyone in the area.

Every guest who has ever stayed with us here at escape guest house has absolutely nothing but an amazing response when asked about their visit.All accusations of noise pollution are total untrue,confirmed by the police and public access yet it is within the realms of a public house to have music and events on until 12am yet my guesthouse aimed at families which I have worked so hard to build, is being targeted.

Do you think this is fair?

Please sign our petition in a hope that Sunderland Council might kindly reconsider the decided verdict.

Helen Goudie, Escape Guest House

Can you provide evidence of noise metering to assess whether the noise is a problem or not?

No hey can’t they In force notice on the neighbours say so The police have now confirmed they believe it to be malicious complaints made by the neighbours and his local pub noise. They deemed my house to be a material change of use therefore i put a. Enforcement notice on it define the breaching the enforcement is up to £20,000 and proceeds of crime would be enforced and taken if I make any bookings

Attached is a report in relation to reported incidents regarding the above premises.

As you will notice on the last entry, I believe that this is a malicious complaint being made against the premises and was clearly the pub noise.

If there is anything further needed please don’t hesitate to contact me. Pc colin iDavis

To whom it may concern,
The following is a summary of reported incidents involving San Marie Beauty Spa and Usworth Rectory in Washington.

Report of a complaint of a noise disturbance at the premises.

Police did not attend as no resources were available. Caller was spoken to later that day and just wanted it reporting.

19/6/18 11.04pm

Report of a complaint re noise at the premises.

Police attended and there was no noise, officer stated that it looked like there were people inside reading books and relaxing.

30/6/18 6.18pm

Report of a complaint re noise and that they do not have a licence. There is a live act on and have been asked to turn the music down, but have refused and told caller that it is only going on a few hours. The police call taker can hear a singer down the line during the call.

30/6/18 6.26pm

Further call re the noise and the police call taker can hear the music on the line during the call.

I think it’s highly unlikely you would get a final closure notice due to a couple of low level noise complaints. Much more likely to be an issue is your comment that you hadn’t applied for a material change of use for your building.

You can’t expect random strangers on the internet to support your petition.

I would focus your energies on addressing issues to do with operating without applying for relevant planning regs.

Good luck

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Agreed.

The OP should also remove the photograph showing the phone number that’s on Airbnb and correct the text of the TripAdvisor listing that says ‘fiends’ instead of ‘friends’.

fiends

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Yes so counter the neighbours claims of noise with hard evidence!

One would think the local council/planning commission wouldn’t be persuaded by random people on the internet signing a petition. They are concerned with the locals who vote and pay taxes. If you can’t persuade your neighbors to be on your side then you are fighting a losing battle.

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That’s exactly what I did apply for

I am amazed the police turned up. It’s not a criminal matter! It’s a council noise abatement issue. The complainant needs to fill in diaries etc… This doesn’t sound right…
As someone else said it sounds more like a planning issue. Can you get the local councillor on your side?

1 Like