This is a letter neighbours of the pub received this week. 

Dear neighbour

As you would know from previous communications and local advertising, we have been proud to support our local community and local artists via a range of afternoon, family friendly events at our hotel on Sundays. These have run from 2-5pm and have been at an acceptable level according to the EPA.

This idea was born out of a post COVID lockdown where we have spent significant funds to make the outdoor space family friendly, fun and available for all to enjoy. We have limited hours to only be on a Sunday from 2-5pm as well as employing local builders to create a more sound proofed area.  

Due to a series of ongoing complaints (allegedly by one person) to the Liquor authority we have sadly had to cancel all of our ongoing music events as planned. It is disappointing that this complainant has not come to us. The police have never attended and there has never been an incident of poor behaviour. We are saddened that complaints have been made on days where there is not even music being played. We are further mortified to be notified of letterbox drops directly targeting people to shut our local business down. 

We are extremely sad for the loss of opportunity that now exists for bands and artists which we have had in all styles from folk, blues, jazz and recently a one off punk gig. These have all been paid gigs for performers to help them propel onto larger platforms for their music beyond our region. 

We are now in a position where receiving complaints on days where there has not even been music which is extremely disappointing and we are very stressed by this. We do not want our local pub to close and for all the local staff we employee to lose jobs. We do not want our community to not have a place where they can meet together, as a community - often bringing lonely and isolated people together.

At this point we are told we are allowed background music and acoustic. We seek your support to continue hosting our community as well as those who travel to our beautiful township who provide economic support to the whole town where they support other local businesses. We have had people travel from wide and far for these gigs and many of them have said they've made it a weekend trip staying in local accommodation etc. This affects many. 

Please let us know if you are happy to have ongoing acoustic only artists for the Summer periods to ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy the beautiful space we have created along with a kids play area and outdoor dining areas.

At this point we will still be trading as normal and we welcome your ongoing support which we all appreciate so very much. 

Yours sincerely
Zarn and Dave and the staff at the Mirboo North Hotel