The city of Toronto says it is investigating the licensing and noise enforcement of two “food establishments” after residents filed complaints alleging they are operating as nightclubs.
Residents of 801 King Street West, near Niagara Street, say loud noises from Hyde Social, which opened last month at the base of the condo building, and Pizza Wine Disco, which began operating a few months ago to the other side of the street.
“We heard some vibrations, like thump thump, typical nightclub bass,” said Susan, who lives on the eighth floor. She only wanted to be identified by her first name.
Read more:
A list of services in the Toronto area affected by the massive Rogers outage
“Someone was listening that you could actually hear the DJ announcing each song. There are people who work shifts, they need to sleep, they come at strange hours. It’s just not good.”
Susan uses a humidifier at night for white noise. Marc Broccoli, who lives on the 11th floor, installed a second air conditioner in his unit for the same reason.
“Even when the weather is nice and you’d like to sleep with the windows open, you can’t,” Broccoli said.
Dave MacVicar, who has lived on the second floor for 17 years, now wears earplugs to bed.
“There’s no way you can sleep with the nightclub,” he said. “The worst is the time of day. It is from 11 at night until 3 in the morning”
Business license records show both HydeSocial Y Pizza Wine Nightclub they are licensed as “eating establishments” and not “nightclubs or entertainment establishments”.
The City of Toronto describes a nightclub or entertainment establishment as “a dance facility where seating is not provided for all patrons” and where “food or drink may be offered”.
Social media videos from inside both establishments show packed places, with patrons dancing.
The City of Toronto confirms that it has received complaints about both locations and is investigating whether the establishments have the appropriate business licenses and are in compliance with the Noise Ordinance.
In a statement to Global News, Hyde Social says: “Hyde operates as a licensed restaurant and bar with a full kitchen, serving food and drinks. We strive to be good neighbors and as such, when we became aware of noise concerns, we contracted with a reputable sound company who conducted a full analysis of our operations.
“Our operations were confirmed to be within the permissible noise levels prescribed under city charter.”
Read more:
Toronto City Councilors Consider Outdoor Ban on “Free Roaming” Cats
Pizza Wine Disco also says that it complies with all municipal statutes.
“PWD is not a nightclub, it’s a restaurant. The venue has no dance floor or guest list and does not charge an “entrance/cover fee”. The kitchen remains open during business hours and food programming is the focal point of our business,” a statement said.
“We are deeply saddened by the relentless attack on our business by a handful of neighbors who have continually tried to shut us down since our inception.”
A petition “Close the nightclub portion of Pizza Wine Disco (PWD)” has garnered more than a thousand signatures.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.