Coffee keeps neighbours awake in West End Lane

Published: 01 July, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

STARBUCKS have apologised to neighbours in West Hampstead after keeping them up all night with noisy building work.

Residents living above the coffee giant’s West End Lane café say builders carrying out a re-fit were last week heard banging and drilling until 2am last week – only to start up again at 4.30am.

Stephen Jones, who lives in one of the 10 flats above the branch, was so angry about the noise that he went to challenge builders working below.

He said: “I went down at about 8.30pm and told them they were breaking the law and they agreed to stop – but they started up again two hours later. Then they woke us up at 4.30 in the morning and we couldn’t believe our ears. I had to go to work at 6am – it was pretty outrageous.

“We had no notification from Starbucks of any works at all, let alone works that would be going on throughout the night.”

Paul Tebbutt, who also lives in the block in Iverson Road, added: “There are 10 residential flats in the block above the store, and in the middle of the night the vibration noise carried to all these flats. 

“This is not the first time I have had to complain about noise from this store. There was a period when delivery drivers weren’t being given the store’s alarm code, so they would turn up at 11.30pm on a Sunday to deliver milk, set off the alarm and then just drive away.”

Camden Council guidelines state that building works that can be heard off the site must be carried out between 8am and 6pm during the week.

A Town Hall spokesman said: “Noisy works which can be heard beyond the site boundary must only be carried out between 8am and 6pm on Monday to Friday, 8am to 1pm on Saturday and not at all on Sundays and public holidays. 

“The council investigates cases of alleged disturbance and can prosecute those who create noise outside of these hours. We encourage residents to report any concerns.”

A Starbucks spokeswoman said: “It was never our intention to have works carried out during unsociable hours, and we’re very sorry residents above our West End Lane store have had this experience.

“When we were made aware of this incident by residents we took immediate steps to ensure that this would not occur again. Our district manager has also spoken to those affected and we believe that this matter has now been resolved.”