► Ashgrove, 24 Nov: Party attracts 130 guests

(18042) House party in large semi with more than 130 guests. I learned about this party late on Friday afternoon after an alert neighbour saw mattresses being positioned at windows (an attempt at sound-proofing) and sent me a note. I was immediately concerned because parties in Ashgrove Road typically can be heard in my own home.

I went to look for myself and talked to two students outside the property. They told me they were expecting more than 100 guests, planned to go on until “2 or 3 am” and had hired two bouncers. They assured me there would be no disturbance. I said that was unrealistic: the “sound proofing” would not make much difference, and the large numbers of people involved would inevitably create noise in the street. I reminded them of the University of Bristol party guidelines—finish by midnight. They claimed the university already knew about the event and was “fine” with it. I suggested they might want to re-read whatever message they had received. I also said they were likely to get complaints. One of the students said “Yes, we probably will.”

On returning home, I immediately left phone and email messages with the university, sent an email to the local neighbourhood police sergeant, and phoned Flatline, the agents for the property. Flatline said they had already been alerted by the other resident and had left phone and email messages for the students instructing them not to hold the event. I didn’t get responses from the police or university, but the other resident told me he’d also contacted UoB and had had a reply.

I visited the street several times during the night to monitor events. Shortly before 11pm there were a dozen people queuing outside the house to enter, and the doormen appeared to be checking names against a guest list. Beat music was audible in the street, though at a lower volume than would typically be expected for a party of this size.

At about midnight, there was a lot of shouting in the street that I could hear from home. It appeared there was some sort of altercation between different groups. I went out to investigate at about 00:15am, in time to see a group of 11 people arriving noisily at the house, followed by others who were shouting and singing loudly in Hampton Park.

Between this point and 1am, I counted more than 130 people arriving at the property. They joined a queue in front of the house which frequently backed up as the doormen tried to cope with the arrivals. The queue was often noisy and on several occasions someone (possibly a doorman) shouted at the queue to be quiet. The beat music evident at the front of the property continued to be relatively subdued, but there was significant noise from the rear windows (mainly of people talking and shouting inside the house).

I saw two men cross the street to urinate in the garden entrances of houses opposite. Later, as some people left, I also saw people waiting noisily on the opposite side of the street for taxis.

I last checked on the party at 2am, by which time the queue had dissipated. The beat music was still playing at roughly the same volume as before.

A resident who lives in Ashgrove Road has filed a complaint to the university. He said: "Our son, recovering from surgery, was woken 3 times at 01.00, 03.00 and 04.00 and I watched at 02.00 as students walked into the street talking loudly on their phones and to each other."

In a separate email, to me, he added: "We are so tired of having to do this every year as a result of students who share our neighbourhood ignoring the impact their behaviour and choices make on all of us. Nobody seems to be able to curtail their selfish attitude to their neighbours."

I have also filed a complaint to UoB, and I will follow up with both the police and Flatline.

Update, 28/11/2018: A resident of Hampton Park confirms he was disturbed for a large part of the night by the street noise associated with this event.