Noisy pub owner jailed for 5 years

A GROUP of neighbours who said they were “tortured” by booming music and other noise from a Barcelona pub may finally get some shut-eye after a court sentenced the owner to more than five years in prison.

The court said that the owner of the Donegal pub ignored repeated complaints from neighbours living in apartments above it in the Las Ramblas district.

The court handed down the sentence last week but it was only reported in Spanish media yesterday. The sentence can be appealed.

The sentence is unprecedented in that part of it is for physical and psychological damages, according to Lluis Gallardo, a spokesman for a Catalan noise pollution association.

The court also ordered pub owner Maria del Carmen Ahijado to pay a fine of more than e17,000 to each of three families that had filed a suit against her.

The owner installed a music system with five speakers that made “the whole structure vibrate,” sometimes from 9am to 3am, the neighbours said in the complaint.

They also complained about screaming and hollering, and could clearly hear the songs and conversations in the pub. They said one of the plaintiffs had to seek treatment for anxiety, depression and insomnia.