Christmas Night

A bit of a surprise and a bit of tradition. Surprise in that the entrepreneurial management of Mango's had rented their club out to a Yuletide gathering of chavs; tradition in that the noise around 04:00 am was more than enough to wake anyone up - car horns, shouting, all the traditional trimmings. There was at least one incident sufficiently serious for the police to require their siren in order to clear a path through Pennington Street. You wouldn't have thought that would have been strictly necessary at 04:00 am on Christmas Night, but there you go. Merry Christmas.

The Thin Blue Line

A number of Community Police Officers were present outside Waitrose on Sunday 22 December. Naturally, I don't want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am took the opportunity to remind them of the anti-social behaviour in Pennington Street as a result of Mango's. They made some notes and informed me that they 'know all about Mango's' and that 'there is an ongoing investigation, that's all I can say'.

More shocking footage - Pennington Street 04:00 am

More shocking footage supplied by Pennington Street residents, regularly disturbed by the sort of anti-social behaviour on display in the video. At some points in the film the bass from the car sound systems was so strong as to swamp the recording equipment. The scenes of the cars zooming up and down the street, horns blaring, underline the fact that for residents the only solution to the problems caused by patrons of Mango's is permanent closure of the club. Imagine all of this going on right outside your bedroom window at four o'clock in the morning... Particularly shocking is the impertinent 'allright bruv?' from one of the Mango's patrons towards the end of the film. Funnily enough, no, we're not allright, bruv...

30 November 2008 04:00 am

This video was shot around 04:00 am on the morning of Sunday 30 November with a mobile phone. This is exactly the kind of thing that wakes us up weekend after weekend. Shouting, car horns, cars zooming past, idiots jumping on the cars - in fact, compared to some weekends this is pretty mild. All the same, it should be clear that the people in the street have no regard whatsoever for anyone living here.

Why do the police not breathalyze all of these drivers? Are we to believe that they have limited themselves to mineral water?

No doubt in subsequent installments we will have the dubious pleasure of publishing clips of the mobile sound systems in action.

Bear in mind that this is merely a two minute clip. This sort of thing goes on for hours. It is particularly bad, as might be expected, around closing time but can start around 23:00 and carry on until 04:30 or thereabouts.

Saturday 22 November: 04:14 am

We would not have this amount of traffic at 04:00 in the morning were it not for the presence of Mango's. At the end of the clip there is some classic pointless beeping of car horns of the kind we are all too familiar with.

What this proves to me is that even if there are quieter weekends from time to time, as long as Mango's is there we will be exposed to this nonsense.

East End Life 3 - 9 November

Next steps

I have asked Daniel Oyebanjo if I can attend the action group meeting that he refers to in his email - though I am conscious that this might not be usual practice. Equally, if anyone else is interested in attending then I am sure that Daniel would be happy if you were to get in touch.

Interesting to see the reference in Daniel's mail to Police Licensing. When the Mango's site was occupied by an equally troublesome club known as Copyright it was the Police Licensing people who finally put a stop to it. This would be an ideal solution for us but there's no point in just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.

If anyone is interested in meeting up to discuss the situation and possible next steps please send an email to penningtonnoise@yahoo.com.

Update from the council

Good to get this email from Daniel Oyebanjo at LBTH Community Safety:

Further to our last conversation regarding the above mentioned, I write to update you on the following action that has ensued.

1. A site visit was carried out to understand the location and ascertain the extent of the distress and alarm the clientele of Mango's have caused to the residents of the above mentioned.
2. Liaised with various agencies with the aim of bringing in solutions to the area. The agencies contacted were Police, SNT, Licensing (both Police & Council), Highways (in relation to parking and traffic), LET's (in relation to the rubbish, broken bottles left behind after clubbing at Mango's), Legal, Planning Department, Environmental Health & the Director of the Local Action Partnership (LAP's 3 & 4) for the Shadwell & Wapping Area.
3. I have also arranged an action group to hold a meeting next week with the aim of coming with an action plan to improve on the quality of life to the residents of the above mentioned.

Furthermore, I have also found out that residents can request for a review of the premises (that is, Mango club), which can be downloaded from the Council's website. Unfortuantely, the Licensing Authority is unable to make any representation against a premises licence or review. This would give residents the opportunity to make representation as they so wish. A number of factors will be taken into account for a representation to be valid, such as

• person(s) living in the vicinity of the premises
• a body representing persons living in the vicinity, for example, a resident association or a parish council

Should you require more information you can contact in the person of Jacqueline Randall, who works in the Licensing section. on 0207 364 5109 or email, jacqueline.randall@towerhamlets.gov.uk informing her of your disagreement to the review with reasons of course.

Kind regards

Daniel Oyebanjo

Community Safety Investigation Officer

London Borough Tower Hamlets

Community Safety Service

Anchorage House

7th Floor

2 Clove Crescent

London E14 2BG

Tel: 0207 364 3658

Email: daniel.oyebanjo@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Here we go again...

The weekend approaches. There seems to be a general sense that the level of anti-social behaviour is increasing. Please do not go out to confront the troublemakers, it is increasingly risky and they are unlikely to listen to reason. That said, if it is possible to take a photograph or make a note of car registration plates without putting yourself at risk then please do and mail them to penningtonnoise@yahoo.com. If you prefer, you can send details of any incidents and vehicle number plates to Daniel.Oyebanjo@towerhamlets.gov.uk. I have spoken to Daniel this week. He is very busy behind the scenes dealing with the various agencies that need to work together in order to resolve this problem.

I spoke to the local SNT on Wednesday and came away very reassured. The police are well aware of the mayhem that we are forced to endure and we should have no doubt that they take our calls seriously.

Regular visitors to these pages will see by the hit-counter and by the range of comments that more and more neighbours are joining in. This certainly encourages me and I sincerely hope it has the same effect on others.

Another way forward

Many thanks indeed to the contributor who left this comment:

'I contacted the council today to log a complaint about the noise. They said that in order to do anything they have to record and witness the disturbance themselves. There is a phone number that is available 24hours on a weekend where once called someone will come out within 1 hour to assess the situation and make a record of the offence. It is 0207 364 7070 and they said the more they are called and the more they witness the more they can do for us. '

Calling Telford’s Yard

Is anyone reading this from Telford’s Yard? It would be useful to have a contact in Telford’s Yard who would be willing to distribute flyers to the south-facing flats most likely to be suffering from the noise and anti-social behaviour problem.

Contact penningtonnoise@yahoo.com

Someone is interested in helping us.

Excellent email this morning from Councillor Emma Jones. I had asked for advice on the most effective way of reporting the problems we have at weekends.

‘It is a good idea for residents to report to the Safer Neighbourhood Team and anti-social behaviour unit of the Council. The Safer Neighbourhood Team's email is StKatharines.Wapping.SNT@met.police.uk

and their numbers are 020 8721 2854 and 07887 821816.

The ASB unit can be contacted on 0800 917 5918 or you can report using this online form https://webforms.towerhamlets.gov.uk/AF3/an/default.aspx/RenderForm/?F.Name=Cd8QMulALNE.

The unit can also be written to at the Town Hall, Mulberry Place (AH), PO Box 55739, 5, Clove Crescent, London, UK, E14 2BG.

The priority areas with most police patrols and funding depend partly upon reports to the SNT and ASB unit, so it is a good idea for residents to do this. I am on the police priority setting panel and so I let them know what residents tell me too.’

There you have it: to influence police patrols and priorities we need to contact the SNT and ASB unit. It's great to know that a councillor who is aware of our problems sits on the police priority setting panel.

Mango's - Pennington Street - 4 Oct - 03:00

Some excellent photographic evidence here from a local resident and blog contributor who adds -

'I thought it pertinent to mention that the "member of staff employed some distance from the premises to encourage the exiting patrons to leave the area quickly and quietly" was nowhere to be seen during these photographs. Nor were they around in the two hours following the police's departure, quite surprising given the events that had just occurred. During those two hours patrons were back to their usual singing, dancing, screaming, smashing glass and playing their car stereos loudly.'

Letter from LBTH Environmental Health

I am grateful to Councillor Emma Jones for forwarding a complaint on to the department of Environmental Health at LBTH. This morning, Saturday 4 October, I received a copy of a letter to Councillor Jones from Clive Shipman, Assistant Head of Service at, LBTH Communities Localities & Culture.


If, like me, you did not get back to sleep until about 04:30 this morning I would strongly advise a few deep breaths before you approach the letter; 'Mango's Nightclub...have a member of staff employed some distance from the premises to encourage the exiting patrons to leave the area quickly and quietly. This is more than we could require of the management and shows willingness on their part to address the problem.'

Funnily enough, I am also willing to address the problem.

If anyone has any difficulty in clicking through to the scans contact penningtonnoise@yahoo.com. and I'll send the images directly.

Saturday 4 October, 03:30 am

Traditional folk dancing in Pennington Street.

Strangely, there is no sign of, ' a member of (Mango's) staff employed some distance from the premises to encourage the exiting patrons to leave the area quickly and quietly'.



If anyone got any number plates please send them through to penningtonnoise@yahoo.com.

Evidence

The weekend approaches. If anyone sees any nonsense going on and if it is possible to take a photograph without putting yourself at risk then please do.

A lot of the disturbance seems to take place around cars. Car number plates, and if possible, the make and model of the vehicle could be very useful in the fight against this harassment. The Council's Community Safety department has asked for any number plates so that they can track the vehicle owners.

As always, try to call the police if you are disturbed by noise. Calls to the police help to build up a record of the problem.

Photographs of the litter and debris on mornings after club nights would also be very helpful.

Any digital images or car details can be sent in confidence to penningtonnoise@yahoo.com. Alternatively, you can send a brief description of the incident and the vehicle number plate to Daniel.Oyebanjo@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

If the harassment continues and if reasonable efforts to solve the problem by other means fail, then a challenge to Mango’s license will be the next course of action. All of the evidence accumulated on here will then strengthen the case against Mango’s.

History – Copyright

Some of the more recent arrivals to the Pennington Street area may not be aware that the previous club on Mango’s site was also the cause of considerable nuisance to residents. Clients of ‘Copyright’, as it was then known, would tend to congregate around Breezers Court :

‘The noise is worst by Breezers Court because they congregate up at this end of the road. They move their cars from outside the club up to this end of the road...Additionally violence or arguments seem to kick off around Breezers Hill – and there is a lot of shouting, screams etc. ...but the club should be taking precautions to ensure the crowd is managed effectively. There was a serious assault outside Telford ’s Yard a couple of months back, which involved clubbers too.’

Sound familiar? This is taken from an email from a local resident dated September 2006. I am very grateful to my neighbours for taking the time to pass on this and other relevant emails. The Mango’s site has been a cause of complaint for some time.

Friday 26th September - An Appalling Experience

A recent comment:

'Another weekend, another appalling experience of antisocial behaviour courtesy of Mango's patrons. I live in a ground floor flat on Pennington Street and have become accustomed to the vile language, littering, violence and blasting of car stereos every weekend. However,last Friday (the 26th) brought new horrors.

I was watching a film at around midnight when I became aware of the sound of running water outside my window. I looked out to see a young Asian man urinating from the pavement down on to my kitchen window. I banged furiously on the window and he looked me straight in the eye, smiled and continued!! I ran in to the street to confront the delinquant and his gang of male friends who had congregated on the corner, and they had the gall to laugh at my protests. I called Limehouse police station and a few minutes later the police arrived and I positively identified the perpetrator (who denied the whole thing) but was nevertheless taken away in the back of a police van.

I am a 22 year old woman and yet I am forced into confrontations, altercations and police disputes with gangs of Asian men regularly at the weekends. I often have to open my ground floor bedroom window to ask rowdy drunks to turn down their stereos in the early hours, to which they aren't going to take kindly. I detest the vulnerable position I am in as these men could return to Mango's every weekend and obviously know where I live.'

Friday 19th September

I thought it was worth quoting the following comment, left today under an older post:

'The noise on Friday 19th September was unbearable. My girlfriend and I were woken up at 3am by groups of men swearing, shouting and loitering around our front door. This noise persisted until 4.45am! The next morning there was smashed glass, plastic bottles, hundreds of flyers for Mango’s and McDonalds litter strewn across the street where they had simply thrown it out of their cars. Surely Mango’s should have to take some form of accountability for the terrible state of the street?'

Did anyone else hear or see anything that night?

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog over the past week or so. It's no trouble for me to keep it updated but it would be a pointless affair without the comments and contributions of my neighbours.

A recent contributor pasted in a handy link to report anti-social behaviour to Tower Hamlets - I've put it at the top of the link list (right).

Please keep coming back. All comments are useful.

Safer Neighbourhoods

This online survey is quick, easy and anonymous -

http://www.met.police.uk/saferneighbourhoods/survey.htm

Community Safety Meeting - Update

I don’t want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am is happy to report a very constructive meeting with Mr Daniel Oyebanjo, Community Safety Investigation Officer for the Borough of Tower Hamlets . Mr Oyebanjo is now fully aware of the sorts of problems we are facing in and around Pennington Street. He indicated a range of approaches that might help to alleviate the noise problem and also to tackle it at source. These approaches included liaison with Neighbourhood Safety Teams who may be able to patrol at the appropriate times, working with Highways to enforce parking restrictions wherever possible and contact with the Local Environment Teams to review any increases in littering.

Mr Oyebanjo can be contacted at - daniel.oyebanjo@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Meeting on Tuesday 16

I don't want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am will meet with a Community Safety Investigation Officer this Tuesday, 16 September. The objective is to formally notify the Council of the problems we experience here. I will also invite the Community Safety people to get in touch with all of the relevant addresses in Telford's Yard, Breezers Court, Artichoke Hill and Pennington Street. 17 people have commented on the blog but I suspect that more will be affected.

I'll provide an update of the meeting as soon as possible.

Councillor email addresses

There are three local councillors listed under 'St Katharine's and Wapping' on the Tower Hamlets site. Their email addresses are as follows:

cllr.shafiqul.haque@towerhamlets.gov.uk

cllr.Denise.Jones@towerhamlets.gov.uk

cllr.emma.jones@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Tactics (2)

Call the cops!

The next time there is any noise please call Limehouse Police Station on 020 7515 1212. They have to log the call. The police call log will strengthen the council's hand and help us to get something done about this.

Tactics (1)

Mail your councillor!

I don’t want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am has emailed various local councillors responsible for St Katharine’s / Wapping. Councillor Emma Jones and Councillor Denise Jones have both been very helpful. The latter has put me in touch with Andy Bamber, Service Head, Community Safety for Tower Hamlets. Mr Bamber is very approachable and very keen to help. I am currently waiting for one of his case workers to get in touch with a view to meeting me or, in fact, a group of residents.

The level of abuse and harassment suffered by my neighbours at ground level on Pennington Street / Artichoke Hill (see the comments on ‘Weekend Noise’) is truly appalling. I would urge these residents in particular to make a point of informing their local councillor of the ongoing problem.

Out of hours noise patrol - 020 7364 7070

Noise nuisance

The link will take you through to the Noise Nuisance page of towerhamlets.gov.uk

If you read the noise nuisance heading you will see that the definition includes,

'street parties and informal gatherings where amplification equipment is used'

and, even more appropriate for our problem,

'audio systems in stationary vehicles'.

The telephone number for the out of hours noise patrol is 020 7364 7070. The last thing I don't want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am wants to do at 04:00 am is to call the council. However, it has to be done.

Encouraging news

I don't want to hear your car stereo at 04:00 am has just had a very helpful exchange of correspondence with The Times regarding the late night unruliness around Times House. Their security and facilities people are now aware of the goings on around their smoking shelter.

We can help The Times by continuing to collect photographic evidence of the noisemakers at work.

Office of Public Sector Information

The link goes through to a definition of the requirements for an Anti Social Behaviour Order. Urinating in the street, as shown in the photograph, above, may not on its own meet all the criteria for

an ASBO -

(behaving) 'in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself'.

However the cummulative effect of loud car stereos, shouting, racing cars and so on must surely fit the bill. Why do we have to put up with this?

Saturday 23 August

The Bank Holiday weekend is always a good bet for noise. Around 23:30 - midnight a group of three youths were drinking in the Times' smoking shelter and making a considerable amount of racket. An Australian woman - possibly from Breezers Court - went out to try and explain to them what a nuisance they were causing. She also talked with the security guard or whoever it was smoking outside. A guy in a suit came out to get into a waiting Mercedes and saw what was going on. Full marks to the Australian girl. No doubt she was woken up again around 04:00 when we were treated to a particularly loud rendition of 'Mundian To Bach Ke' by Panjabi MC. Puerile.

Please comment if you saw any of this.

Sunday 31 August

03:00 - 03:30 Group of youths in Pennington Street, drinking and shouting.

Weekend Noise

At the weekends I am regularly disturbed by groups of youths standing around their cars, drinking, shouting, occasionally fighting or running up and down the street screaming, all to the accompaniment of powerful car stereos. This tends to happen at midnight, when, I presume, they are getting ready to join the queue for Mango's, and then around 03:00 to 04:00 am.

I have started this blog in order to record specific instances of this disturbance. I ended up calling it Pennington Street Noise but I am well aware that Breezers Hill also suffers from the same problem and I would be surprised if the other streets in the area were not affected.

If you live in the area, please comment on here whenever you suffer from noise of this kind.