Lea Bridge Road restaurant Duos Lounge must turn music down

Residents living near Duos Lounge, in Lea Bridge Road, complained about “very loud music” coming from the venue on Fridays and Saturdays, from around 10pm until its closing time of 2am.

Despite being handed an abatement notice by Waltham Forest Council’s noise team, the issues persisted and the owner was handed a formal warning in early February.

The issues peaked in mid-April, when council officers made a number of visits to both Duos Lounge and the neighbouring properties.

The second time officers visited, music coming from Duos Lounge was “audible” but “not as excessive” as before, according to a council report.

They asked the venue to keep the music at the same level, but residents said it was turned back up to an “unbearable” volume once the officers had left.

A week later, on April 25, officers visited a resident’s home and found the music to be “unacceptably” loud.

Inside the home, “music, song lyrics, and the DJ shouting into the microphone” were “clearly audible” and one officer could feel the vibrations from “heavy bass” music beneath her feet.

Duos Lounge declined to comment when approached.

At a licensing hearing last week, the licensing committee – made up of elected councillors – ruled that a noise limiter must be installed in the venue.

All amplified music will be run through it, and the operators will not be able to access it or change the settings.

Such devices are set and secured by the council and prevent music from being turned up past a certain decibel limit.

Additionally, the licence holder – who oversees Duos Lounge as a venue licensed to play music – will meet with neighbouring residents to discuss the new conditions, and provide them with his phone number.

The noise team also unsuccessfully tried to reduce the venue’s opening hours, from 2am to midnight on weekends and from midnight to 11pm on weekdays.