Boxpark keeps licence despite ‘tsunami of noise’ complaints

The Boxpark in Shoreditch has won a battle to play music at night despite neighbours complaining of a “tsunami of noise” from the venue.

After avoiding closure in 2025, London’s original Boxpark site at Bishopsgate Goodsyard near Shoreditch High Street Station can continue to play live music from its terrace after several residents lobbied Hackney Council to impose an outdoor noise ban or restrict alcohol sales from the venue.

A total of 10 residents had sought a formal licensing review, arguing that Boxpark had become a permanent nuisance as drinkers frequently were “disgorged” into Shoreditch’s streets late at night, “spreading a tsunami of noise, public urination, fights and scuffles, and further drug-taking”.

At a licensing committee hearing last month (14 July), long-time resident Joanna Gray said the noise was “intrusive, disruptive” and deemed Boxpark “not responsible enough” to hold its licence. Another resident claimed the “massive open-air bar and club” and its wide-open roof were an outlier for the area and inherently could not mitigate noise.

‘Imposed on us’

The site opened in 2011 as London’s first-ever Boxpark and has since operated under a ‘meanwhile use’ scheme, meaning its licence was technically a temporary arrangement.

This had also drawn the ire of neighbours, who said the venue was never meant to be a bar and music venue. Louise Garrett, who claimed to represent 150 residents across the wider Shoreditch area, said concerns around noise came from long-standing neighbours such as Ms Gray, “not newbies or NIMBYs”.

“We were told Boxpark would be temporary, and it’s been here 14 years. We feel like it’s been imposed on us, in effect, by the back door,” she said. “The upswing in very, very late-night Temporary Event Notices (TENs) is proving almost impossible to live with.”

Boxpark’s managers, however, argued that their operating hours were in line with local licensing policy and stressed that there had been no breach of the premises licence, and highlighted that neither the police, the local licensing authority, nor environmental health teams had backed the neighbours’ cause.

Ruling

The venue stressed that it had noise-limiting systems installed at the venue since 2023, with decibel (dB) limits “set in agreement with local residents”, but offered to carry out noise testing inside neighbouring flats to stress test their sound systems. Residents had rejected this on the grounds of privacy.

Ultimately, Hackney’s licensing sub-committee did not accept that the noise levels in the area came solely from Boxpark. In its final decision published 28 July, the council declined to take punitive action against the venue because there was insufficient evidence that it was causing public nuisance severe enough to warrant revoking or suspending the licence.

Instead, the committee changed the licence to require Boxpark to hold regular community meetings at least every three months, and to set up a 24/7 helpline and email address for residents.