Battle of the noise meters as trendy neighbours fall out

They're two of Canberra's trendy establishments, the kind of places where "panko crumbed shiitake mushrooms" or "snapper with coconut lime crumb, rocket and pear salad, paired with espresso martini" are on the menu.

And noise meters.

Kate Parkinson of Hopscotch.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Hopscotch and the Tipsy Bull are neighbouring nightspots favoured by beautiful people. They have, though, developed a very unbeautiful relationship over the noise one causes the other - or doesn't.

There's been an ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal case to try to soften the stoush between the two establishments on Lonsdale Street in Canberra.

Hopscotch describes itself as a gastropub with "the largest range of whiskies (including scotches, blends, bourbons, Irish, French, Japanese and Australian) available in Canberra".

It promotes trivia nights and "Good Vibrations Dildo Racing".

Its neighbour, Tipsy Bull, promotes the "Three Martini Lunch". It was formerly known as the Schnitzel House Braddon which closed and reopened in its new form. The manager of the place under both guises was Joe Beltrame.

An ACT tribunal has now heard how the proprietor of the Tipsy Bull has complained repeatedly that the noise from Hopscotch has been excessive. It's an acrimonious dispute that has run for more than three years and has now ended up with barristers, legal bills and enough rancour to fill a million champagne flutes.

Judgment is yet to be made but a hearing in March heard that Tipsy Bull manager, Mr Beltrame, had called in a noise level expert to measure how much sound was emanating from Hopscotch.

In the hearing, the lawyer for Hopscotch questioned whether the Tipsy Bull noise monitor was picking up just the sound from the neighbour or more general sound from the street. The lawyer questioned the validity of the readings.

A director of Hopscotch, Kate Parkinson, said that she, too, had monitored the noise from her restaurant and found it was not excessive. She said she had told the staff to keep the noise down and had put up notices indicating maximum sound levels.

In a document submitted to the tribunal, she alleged that there had been a series of angry disputes with Mr Beltrame, the manager of the Tipsy Bull.

Ms Parkinson's evidence to the tribunal alleged that at one stage Mr Beltrame was "trying to dissuade patrons entering and exiting Hopscotch Bar, saying words to the effect, "Don't go in there. Come in here for a half price schnitzel", "Don't go there, come in here" and "betrayal" when patrons declined their offer."

She alleged that there had been confrontations, at one stage physical tussling. It was alleged in the court submission that the power supply to her restaurant had sometimes suddenly cut.

Mr Beltrame said after the hearing that he had no access to the electricity supply for Hopscotch. He also said that Hopscotch had been undercutting his prices very aggressively, offering schnitzel at half the price he had been charging at the Tipsy Bull.

In documents submitted to the tribunal, the professional acoustics consultant Mr Bertrame engaged recorded the "noise from amplified music" from next door just before midnight on three days at between 90 and a hundred decibels - the volume, as one university study puts it, of "jet take-off (at 305 meters), use of an outboard motor, power lawn mower, motorcycle, farm tractor, jackhammer, garbage truck".

"The bass is so heavy that the bottles in here vibrate," Mr Beltrame said later. He said that the noise was so loud that his staff, by law, should have had ear-plugs.

A judgment is expected later this month.