A PUB that famously hosted a surprise visit from Nirvana has been told that it can no longer play music.
The Southern Bar in Edinburgh’s Clerk Street is also famous for the wide selection of songs on its jukebox.
But after a string of noise complaints over the past two years the venue has now been banned from playing any tunes.
Edinburgh City Council licensing board took the decision this week after the bar received a total of 36 complaints about the noise.
This is the second time that the bar has came in front of the council’s licensing board as it was told last June that it would have to cancel its live music nights until the issue had been resolved.
Southern manager Mark Miller, 23, said that £10,000 had been spent on soundproofing and moving the stage.
And Mr Millar has said that he is “angry” at the decision.
He added: “This bar has been a music and live bands venue for the past 40 years. Take that away and you’ve just got an empty room. I’m angry and frustrated and I’d like this to be resolved.
“I can understand the complaints about live bands, but the jukebox is quieter than the telly. When the council’s officers first came to see us in June, they seemed to think the staff were turning up the volume.
“We even agreed to put it under lock and key so that we couldn’t alter the level.
“We’ve come up with a three-point plan to try and get our music back. We’re going to reduce the number of speakers by 30 per cent, allow them to take our jukebox key away and ask the company to set the sound level on the jukebox.”
The Southern Bar was treated to an impromptu five-song set by Nirvana in 1991 after the band played a gig at Calton Studios.
The pub is renowned as being a music venue and is particularly popular with students.
Councillor Marjorie Thomas, convenor of the licensing board, said: “We were given three pages of complaints all relating to noise and, really, they could have done something about it.
“It takes a lot before our LSOs (Licensing Standard’s Officers) take things to the board and they have had some time to deal with this.”
