Council blocks plan for Grace Hill music venue

REJECTION COMES AFTER DOZENS OF RESIDENTS OBJECT

- By DANIEL ESSON

DIVISIVE plans for a new live music venue to take over a former bar opposite a retirement complex have been rejected amid claims it will “bring public nuisance into people’s homes”.

A licensing application was submitted by London-based company Gail 1 Ltd to transform the former dive bar The Harp Restrung, at 11 Grace Hill, Folkestone, into a concert venue named the Old Harp Club.

The plans had provoked fears from those living in nearby Grace Court a block of flats for the over-65s where residents said the prospect of late-night music and “people drinking on the street” was making them “incredibly anxious”.

However, the application was rejected by Folkestone and Hythe District Council's licensing act sub-committee at a meeting on Monday this week.

The authority's environmental health team had objected to the application, with an officer telling the committee there were “several complaints” when the venue - which closed during the pandemic used to be open.

He added: “It would have an unreasonable impact on nearby residential properties, particularly the ones directly above and next to the venue.”