New meaning to new year
We did it! The Police issued a Summons for a Hearing on 22nd December and the Shady Grove has since been closed. Congratulations and thanks to everybody who supported our campaign and played an active role. Thank you especially to Avon & Somerset Police. Well done.The resulting peace and quiet at night ever since the Shady Grove was closed on 2nd December proves that we were right all along in saying that this was the sole cause of our misery.
We must never allow this club to be opened again.
Historically, though, the Shady Grove has been know to just unilaterally re-open after a cooling off period when previously closed down. However, the last closure was performed under the Licensing Act whilst this one is performed under the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003. Will that make a difference?
Who knows really? But, in our favour is the strong possibility of the Police simply moving in and enforcing the Closure Order if it is breached so we may be fortunate this time around.
Another favourable possibility is the recent discovery that the owner of the Shady Grove has applied for Planning Permission from BCC to convert it into living accommodation.
Good you say? Well, maybe not. Another hostel has been mention as a suggested use for the building so we need to be vigilent in making our views heard before the application is considered. We’ll leave that until first thing in 2010.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Just to put the above apparent ‘victory’ into some kind of perspective, the shut down of the Shady Grove was achieved by obtaining a 3 month temporary closure order so we are not out of the woods yet.
The chances of it reopening again once that has expired remain high and, if previous experience is anything to go by, it is most likely that an attempt will be made to reopen it. Police have confirmed that this is, indeed, a very real prospect, albeit an unwelcome one.
For this reason, we must continue our campaign with a renewed vigour and ensure that a follow up second closure order is sought by Police should our fears of a reopening materialise.
I’m pretty sure it’s open again, there’s been a lot of people outside late at night/early in the morning. My bedroom window looks over it. It needs to get shut down. It has such a negative impact on the area, things have been better since its closure.
@ Ashley Road Resident: Yes, I believe you are right and thank you very much for posting this update. We have also had other similar reports recently. See the last couple of comments under the Petition section for the Shady Grove. When will Ajax ever stop? He really is an absolute menace to our community.
He was even seen urinating against the new wall in Drummond Road opposite Super Mashriq supermarket at 11:00 in the morning with his own lavatory just a few yards away around the corner. How anti-social can you get? Disgusting behaviour. Children are on holiday.