AN Ipswich landlady has today spoken of her outrage towards council officers who broke into her town centre pub and seized music equipment.Julie Denney, who runs the Giles Tavern, on Queens Street, told of her utter shock when a customer phoned her in the early hours of this morning to tell her police and council officers had broken into the pub.

AN Ipswich landlady has today spoken of her outrage towards council officers who broke into her town centre pub and seized music equipment.

Julie Denney, who runs the Giles Tavern, on Queens Street, told of her utter shock when a customer phoned her in the early hours of this morning to tell her police and council officers had broken into the pub.

The raid took place after environmental officers received several complaints about noise levels but Ms Denney feels it has more to do with her choice of event for Thursday evenings.

She said: "I started running lap dancing evenings in December. Before this I had no problems about noise levels but now there are lots of complaints made and always on Thursday evenings.

"I have tried working with environmental health about the problem. I have installed a noise limiter that cuts out the music if it goes above a certain level and have blocked up the two chimneys to prevent the noise from disturbing those who live in the flats above the pub.

"I have even bought a metre to measure the noise level and ensure it never goes above 86 decibels but the officers decided to brake in anyway without my knowledge and seize all my equipment.

"Other pubs in the town have their music playing as loud as we do and if I have to turn it down any more I will loose custom over it.

"I am ready to hand the keys in and give up the business because I have had enough."

The seizure took place at around 8.30am and four police officers assisted the Ipswich Borough Council environmental health officers. A note was left in the tavern explaining that the raid happened following officers witnessing noise amounting to a statutory nuisance from the premises on May 20.

Clive Bentley, senior environmental health officer, said: "We have had a lot of complaints from members of the public and have witnessed a lot of offences.

"This is one of the first commercial premises we have had to enter following complaints as normally places like pubs work with us in solving the problem.

"We always do try to do everything we can to prevent a seizure but in this instance felt it was the only option."

Although there is no official limit to how high noise can go before it causes an offence, officers judge it on whether it would interfere with the day-to-day running of complainant's lives.

The council will now hold the music equipment from the Giles Tavern until the case goes to court.

What do you think of the council's actions? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk