Hoxton hotel and Yamamori resolve noise row, court told
High Court Reporter
The leaseholders of Dublin’s Hoxton Hotel and the neighbouring Yamamori Izakaya venue have resolved a High Court dispute over alleged noise nuisance.
Following out-of-court discussions, Judge Oisín Quinn on Friday was informed Trinity Hospitality and Yamamori had resolved the matter, and that both parties wanted the proceedings to be stayed.
The judge made the order as sought. He also granted liberty to the parties to return to court if required, and made no order as to legal costs, on the consent of the parties.
Trinity Hospitality Ltd, leaseholders of the hotel on Exchequer St, had sued Yamamori Izakaya Ltd, seeking an injunction against the restaurant and late bar restraining it from causing an alleged noise nuisance to its guests.
The resolution between the parties came after Trinity Hospitality on Thursday had opened its application for an interlocutory, or interim, injunction.
It was Trinity Hospitality’s case that the Hoxton – formerly the Central Hotel – was forced to close 31 bedrooms because of complaints from guests about noise from the Yamamori premises.
Yamamori disputed Trinity Hospitality’s claims. It said the problem lay in the construction and noise insulation of the hotel premises, which opened for trade in November following a major refurbishment of the old Central Hotel building.
Following the resolution, the judge said that, given the parties were commercial neighbours, reaching an agreement in a challenging matter such as the case before the court was a preferable outcome.
Earlier during Friday’s hearing, Gareth Compton, counsel for Yamamori, said comments by Trinity Hospitality’s lawyers that his client’s venue was not a “cultural institution” and that “nightclubs come and go” came as a “great disappointment, but not a surprise” to his side.
He compared these comments to a press release issued by Trinity Hospitality earlier this year, which stated it was not seeking to curtail nightlife, and that it considered “Yamamori Izakaya to be a hugely important part of the local nightlife scene, and would like to see it thrive”.
Counsel said the Yamamori side’s experience in interacting with Trinity Hospitality is that one thing was said, but the experience on the ground was “much different”.
Compton, appearing with barrister David Geoghegan, instructed by Compton Solicitors, said that Trinity Hospitality did not raise a fair issue to be tried in its case, part of the test for the granting of an interlocutory injunction.
Counsel submitted that Trinity was seeking to close half of Yamamori’s business and have the premises close by 11pm.
“That can’t be a fair case,” he submitted.
During Thursday’s hearing, Andrew Walker, for Trinity Hospitality, submitted that the cause of the noise nuisance was Yamamori’s decision to move its nightclub operation from the basement of its premises to the ground floor.
Walker, appearing with Barry Mansfield, instructed by William Fry, said that “DJ-type music” played on Yamamori’s ground floor was “structurally-borne as well as airborne”, meaning the sound moves up walls and causes vibrations.
