Locals tell of 'constant anxiety' over venue noise

Residents living next to a popular venue in Manchester have said they live with "constant anxiety" because of loud noise, anti-social crowds, and even public urination.

Diecast, an event and social space which opened near Manchester Piccadilly Station in 2023, has a capacity for thousands of revellers.

"It's constant anxiety," said Maged Selim, who has lived in the area almost 20 years. "Shouting and screaming all the time. And that low level drumming of the bass, it gets into your head."

Diecast told a council meeting last week it had spent money trying to reduce noise, but several licensing conditions were put in place, including closing the beer garden at 23:00.

Diecast has a late night club space as well as beer and food halls.

Maged Selim, 62, and his wife Meena Shah, 65, first spoke to the BBC in 2024 about issues at the former metalworks factory venue, and they said their situation had not improved since.

"Every weekend, and often on Wednesdays and Thursdays, it is not a matter of if the bass will start, it's a matter of when," Selim said.

"The thing about low level bass is it's not loud, it gets into your head.

"You just can't concentrate on anything you're doing."

Selim added: "And then there is the crowd noise.

"People are just shouting and screaming from the beer garden just all the time.

"You turn the TV up or the radio on but it is the vibration - it stresses you out all evening."

Selim said the thrumming of the vibrations had stopped him being able to sleep - a problem which has intensified for him since being diagnosed with cancer.

"I just dread the weekends," he said. "I'm just tired.

"It is constant stress and it has an impact on me."

"It has been three years of this," Shah said. "And we can't take three more years of it.

"It's devastating.

"If I really think about it, I want to cry because we could hardly afford this place when we bought it.

"And in retirement we liked living in the city, you know we enjoyed it.

"There is city noise, there's a bit more crime, there's this, there's that, but we really enjoyed it.

"Now that enjoyment has been sucked out of it.

"Try as you might to be mindful, to ignore - we can't.

"It's like being in a maze when you can't get out."

She added: "We don't want the business to close, we just want to find a compromise we can all live with."

Fellow resident, Daniel Tischer, 40, moved to Junction Works in 2020.

"People are urinating very often against our property," he said. "I have come home before to find two people having urinated literally on my entrance door.

"I had to step over their urine, which is not particularly nice."

Tischer said people were "lairy" outside the venue, adding that "it gets considerably worse especially when people start leaving the venue being intoxicated."

"There have been people breaking parts of the building," he said. "Ripping up metal work and trying to force their way through the door." '

He said the disturbance had a "major impact" on his professional life as a lecturer.

"When I'm teaching and there's a lot of people that are causing noise nuisance on an evening that obviously impacts my sleep and I have to leave very early in the morning and it's majorly obstructive," he said.

Tischer said he spent weekends - when the venue is at its most busy - staying at friends' houses in an attempt to avoid being in his home.

"It's just unbearable," he said. "I try to avoid being at home until after one o'clock in the morning."

Selim, Shah, and Tischer were among five people living in central Manchester who spoke at the council licensing meeting on 13 July about disturbance from the venue based on Ducie Street.

At the meeting, Diecast said it wanted to build a "positive working relationship" with the local community.

A representative from the venue said: "It's a multi-use space which a huge amount of people go to and get benefit from."

The meeting heard that officers from the council had also flagged concerns, with officers witnessing "significant bass noise breakout", with "levels of noise to be consistently excessive and intrusive".

Diecast representatives said the venue had invested sums to try and reduce noise break out from the venue during events.

Several licensing conditions were put in place for Diecast to agree to.

These include a written noise management plan, with measures to control amplified sound, and for the beer garden to close at 23:00.

The venue offered to attend quarterly meetings with residents to ensure regular dialogue.

Councillor Julie Connolly said she hoped the decision would mark the start of better relations between Diecast and local residents.

A spokesperson for Manchester City Council told the BBC: "As Manchester changes its venues will change alongside it - with Die Cast any changes made have gone through the necessary and appropriate planning and licensing assessments which has allowed permissions to be granted.

"These are subject to conditions to mitigate harmful impact.

"The council will always take proportionate action when issues arise which are found to be at odds with these consents and when concerns have been raised, we have responded swiftly."

The BBC has contacted Diecast for further comment.

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