AN Ipswich landlady of a lap dancing club has been told to pay £6,000 for failing to turn the volume down. Julie Denney of The Giles Tavern in Princes Street was found guilty of contravening an Ipswich Borough Council noise abatement notice on seven occasions between March and October last year.

AN Ipswich landlady of a lap dancing club has been told to pay £6,000 for failing to turn the volume down.

Julie Denney of The Giles Tavern in Princes Street was found guilty of contravening an Ipswich Borough Council noise abatement notice on seven occasions between March and October last year.

South East Suffolk Magistrates Court heard that environmental health officers were called to a flat above the pub on numerous occasions where a resident complained he could not sleep because of the noise.

Council officers told the court they had heard the loud music which was so extreme they could hear it over the sound of the television and it had interfered with normal conversation.

The court heard that as well as the music the sound of men "jeering" could also be heard coming from the pub below.

Denney's father insulated one of the two chimney stacks leading to the upstairs flat but sound engineers said both of them would need doing and double-glazing installed to thoroughly sound proof the pub.

A noise limiter was installed to reduce the problem but at some point it was tampered with, leaving it ineffective.

District Judge David Cooper said Denney, 41, had not even taken the simple step of turning the volume down.

Denney was told to pay a £250 fine for each of her seven offences.

Area manager and joint licence holder, Helen Cocking, of Barrow, was also found guilty of five charges of breaching the noise abatement notice and ordered to pay £50 for each offence.

Both women were ordered to pay half the prosecution costs, which amounted to £8,511.80.

Mr Cooper said Denney did not "come close" to complying with the order. He added that suggestions that Ipswich Borough Council had granted Denney a public entertainment licence in error and then became outraged at the "morally dubious activity of lap dancing in Ipswich" was put forward without "a shred of evidence".

Speaking after the case, Clive Bentley, council senior environmental health officer, said: "Taking court action is always a last resort. We prefer to work with publicans and entertainment licence-holders to sort out problems amicably.

"We took legal action solely to stop a noise nuisance which had been going on for two years. We are pleased that the court has found in our favour."