Council Reveal Why They Cracked Down On Tempo Hotel

Brisbane City Council have said that repeated complaints against Fortitude Valley music venue The Tempo Hotel forced their hand in applying further restrictions to the ailing live venue's existing Amplified Music Venue [AMV] permit.

Reported by theMusic.com.au earlier this week, The Tempo Hotel and sister venue Chalk Hotel have been placed in the hands of administrators, with Tempo blaming council restrictions for their closure – which they're calling “renovations”. The Chalk Hotel has remained open for now.

A spokesperson for Council has told theMusic.com.au that they indeed clamped down on Tempo after issues were raised by external parties against the venue.

“Council received a large number of complaints about the Tempo Hotel and subsequent investigations revealed contraventions of the local law,” they said.

“All music venues in the Valley are required to comply with their AMV permit and the local law,” the spokesperson said. “Council conducts regular inspections to ensure music venues are compliant.

Council said Tempo was seeking “higher noise limits than their permit conditions specify”, adding that the two parties had been unable to find a middle ground.

”As part of Council's investigations, following the numerous complaints received, Council attempted to work with the owner to resolve the issues,” the spokesperson said, adding that the two parties had had “a number of meetings”.

“However, that was unsuccessful … Council was left with no choice but to amend the conditions of the AMV permit to include specific noise limits within the building, so that The Tempo Hotel could meet outside noise limits as required by the local law.”

Representatives from The Tempo Hotel have not responded to theMusic.com.au's request for comments today.

While the future of two music venues have been put in doubt this week, several new venues have opened – or are expected to open – in Brisbane recently. They include The Underdog and The Brightside, while the city has a vibrant, existing DIY upstart scene including The Waiting Room in West End.