http://www.darlington.gov.uk/PublicMinutes/Licensing%20Sub-Committee/January%204%202012/Item%204.pdf

John King comments:The Old Vic Darlington applies for live msuic permission, but is met with page after page of hysterical drivel from the Elf and Safety Dept.

On 30 March 2011 an application was properly made for a Premises Licence in respect of 95-97 Victoria Road, Darlington DL1 5JQ in accordance with Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.
The application was properly advertised as required by the 2003 Act and, as a result, 8representations were received from Interested Parties, i.e. persons living in the vicinity of the premises in respect of the licensing objective of preventing public nuisance and an indication was given that there would be a further representation from a Responsible Authority, namely the Environmental Health Manager on the same basis. The Applicant was advised of the concerns expressed in the representations and as a result she amended her closing hour from 01.00 am to 23.30 pm and also removed everything from the regulated entertainment part of her application except indoor sporting events.

Letters were sent to all objectors indicating the change in the application and as a result 3 Interested Parties withdrew their representations and the Environmental Health Manager indicated that in light of the amended hours and activities he would no longer be making a representation. On 27 May 2011 the revised application was considered by the Council's Licensing Sub Committee, along with the representations made by the Interested Parties. After careful
consideration Members granted the Premises Licence subject to the following conditions, which were in addition to the mandatory conditions for the sale or supply of alcohol:

This is another example of where, because some form of application was eventually granted - it will show up in statistics as a licensing success. It will be ignored that the licensee had already been forced to withdraw the application for any live music.

This before a note had been sounded but in the face of a few objections which were based only on the assumption that any form of live music at any time in this venue would result in measurable noise pollition.

So the live music has been prevented, simply as a result of the need to obtain additional entertainment licensing permission.........