Neighbours of a non-league football club in south Manchester have spoken out about how living next to the well-attended ground is affecting their lives. West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC, whose five adult and 30 junior teams consist of around 500 players, bought the Brookburn Road site in 1996.
Since then, the club has grown, with the semi-professional side attracting around 700 fans for an average home game at the weekend and up to 450 midweek. Residents who live around the ground say they put up with 'tremendous' level of match day noise 'fueled by alcohol' and that the site is no longer suitable.
They have public safety concerns about the 'unlit' and 'narrow' bridleway behind some of their homes which is the only way of accessing the ground. And they say spectators hurl abuse at them when parking problems arise.
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It comes after the club asked Manchester council for a more flexible alcohol licence – an application which received dozens of objections from residents. The new premises licence, which was granted on Monday (December 12), allows the club to sell alcohol from 10.30am to 11pm throughout the week.
But the club, which already sells alcohol on match days, says nothing will change as a result and residents will have more power to raise concerns. However, residents fear that the move will mean the club expands further.
Speaking after a licensing hearing where the application was approved, Chorltonville resident Jonathan Green said he is 'fearful for the future'. "The quality of life in this area is just going to plummet," he said.
"This can sound like it's just a whole lot of NIMBYs who live in a nice area, but it really isn't that. This has had a real impact on people's mental health."
Residents say they support the club, but worry about the impact it is having on the area, claiming that match day attendance has increased sixfold in 10 years. They say the 'very narrow' bridleway, which is the only way of accessing the ground by car was not designed for this purpose, claiming that it is not safe.
Parking also causes conflicts between spectators and neighbours who 'get abuse' just for asking fans not to leave their cars on verges, objectors allege. And they have concerns about the ground becoming a venue for others to hire out in an 'unrestricted' way, which Mr Green raised at the hearing this week.
"As residents, we've had this growing enterprise on the southern end of the estate as this thing grows and grows," he said. This is a club with perfectly reasonable ambitions, it's just in the wrong place."
The club relies on revenue from selling drinks as well as food and merchandise, but its main income stream is still ticket sales, according to its representative. Representing the West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC at the hearing, Gill Sherratt from Licensing Matters explained that the current club premises certificate which allows for alcohol sales should have been updated a long time ago.
The club has been relying on this old certificate to sell alcohol on weekends and has had to apply for temporary event notices for each midweek game. The new licence means less paperwork for the club who could get caught out if a game is rescheduled at short notice, leaving less than the required 10 days to notify the council – but it also comes with stricter policies for the premises.
"This is about ensuring that spectators are able to enjoy the football with a can of lager with their family if they want to," she told councillors at the hearing. Responding to written objections from residents and a local business who said the site would become a pub, she assured councillors that this will not happen.
But residents questioned why the club won't stick to the same arrangements. Alison Chaplin, who also lives in the area, said that the new licence is not necessary if the club is not planning to increase alcohol sales, as it claims.
"If nothing will change then nothing needs to change," she said. "If the income stream doesn't change, then it's not necessary."
She said her main concern is public nuisance arising from the extended hours. Volunteers working behind the bar would be required to undergo training if the new licence is granted which is not the case under the current arrangements.
But residents are worried about other organisations hiring out the ground. The club claimed that they have never had issues with externally-organised events, pointing to the recent bonfire night celebrations which ran smoothly.
Nevertheless, some neighbours have made noise complaints about the club. Others complained that the club did not consult with neighbours enough, but this was rejected by its representative who said all legal duties were fulfilled.
"What I think you're dealing with here is that the residents don't want change, they don't want the club to grow, they don't want progress," she told the panel. The panel granted the new premises licence on the grounds that additional conditions proposed by the police would be included and that 'ample' waste bins would provided on the site to address concerns about litter at the site.
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