Pub landlord fined after breaching enforcement notice

Residents living near a Paley Street pub can look forward to quieter evenings thanks to a successful prosecution on behalf of the Royal Borough's enforcement team.

At East Berkshire Magistrates' Court Bracknell on Wednesday 9 March Terence Fry, landlord of The Bridge House, pleaded guilty to two charges of retention of a large marquee in the grounds of the pub contrary to the requirements of an enforcement notice issued in June 2009.

The unauthorised erection of the marquee meant that for nearly two years residents had to put up with considerable noise and disturbance well into the evening whenever the pub held events that 'spread out' into the garden.

There had been a number of previous hearings and there was considerable legal argument during the hearing in which the counsel for the defendant said his client had taken the marquee down as required, and that re-erecting it was not an offence under the legislation.

The Council did not agree and neither did Deputy Judge Vickers who said that ignorance of the law is no excuse and the requirements of the enforcement notice remained in place even if compliance had been achieved previously.

Mr Fry was fined £250 for each of the two offences and ordered to pay £500 towards the Council's costs and a £15 court surcharge, a total of £1,015.

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