Sports club faces being stripped of event licence after revellers jumped into gardens and ‘collapsed on flower pots’

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents claim they have had sleepless nights after revellers from a nearby sports club allegedly jumped into their gardens and ‘collapsed on flower pots’.

The club, Gresham Athletic Ground in Greenwich, is now at risk of having its temporary event licence revoked.

Edd Moore, a resident living beside the club in Eltham Road, said he was kept up by noisy partygoers leaving events late at night.

He said: “The distance from my front door to the fence of the club is the size of someone’s lounge. The last time an event happened, I went to bed at 11pm. At 11.30pm I could still hear noise, and then again at 12 o’clock while trying to sleep.”

But Phillemon Mashaga, the chairman of AFC Lewisham, the club that runs the ground, said he was happy to work with neighbours on a solution, and had no intention of fighting the council or residents next door.

Greenwich council claims it has received noise complaints about the club since May 1.

The club was then told to turn down loud music at events. But 10 new complaints were filed in July, leading to a meeting between club owners and the council. The club was also sent a warning notice.

Mr Mashaga said: “We had a meeting after about three or four complaints and the council gave us guidance, because that week we were having a barbecue.”

In the run up to their barbecue, Mr Mashaga and his wife were told to point the speakers for the event towards the club.

By not facing the sports field, the council hoped to lower the noise heard by neighbours. The staff of the club also took shifts monitoring the noise level.

Mr Mashaga said: “We started the music and within 20 minutes there was the first phone call.”

Residents complaining about the August barbecue claimed that guests were jumping into neighbours’ gardens, urinating in public and drinking on the street.

Mr Moore, one of the residents living beside the club entrance, said about the August event: “We had people come down here, jumping our fence and trying to get round the back.

“We had a lady who sat on one of our flowerpots on the front and just collapsed on it. Her friends were trying to revive her in the garden.”

AFC Lewisham set up a complaints hotline for residents to call if they were being disturbed by the noise.

However, Mr Moore claimed he has had little success with contacting the club this way. He said: “I’ve had a few apologies come back, saying they would try to keep it under control. But it still kept going on.”

Responding to the complaints, Mr Mashaga said: “We’re not here to fight the council or fight the neighbours. We’re here to work with them, just as we work with all the kids and parents who have got children as members within our club.”

The decision regarding the temporary event notice for Gresham Athletic Ground will be made by Greenwich council at a licensing sub-committee meeting tonight.

Pictured top: Local resident Edd Moore, shown in front of the entranceway to the club (Picture: Joe Coughlan)