The VIP Shisha lounge on Preston Street has been the centre of community complaints over noise.
VIP Shisha, a hookah pipe lounge on Preston Street, has raised the ire of nearby residents, attracting numerous complaints about excessive noise.
Because the lounge, which opened two years ago, has a license for smoking herbal Shisha but not for serving alcohol, it cannot be classified as a bar and has no legal requirement to close at a specific time – it is open until 3 a.m. on weekdays and 4 a.m. on weekends.
Shisha usually refers to inhaling flavoured tobacco through a water-pipe or hookah, but can be tobacco free.
Concerns surrounding the noise complaints made against VIP Shisha were recently raised by the Dalhousie Community Association.
According to Eric Darwin, the association’s president, his organization will be adding its voice to the chorus of unhappy locals.
Oak Street resident Cameron Metcalf says the late-night noise means his family cannot sleep in the bedrooms at the front of their house.
“We don’t use the front three bedrooms anymore,” he says. “We all sleep in shared rooms in the back because of the noise.”
Several Oak Street residents say the noise comes from patrons who often park along the street beside their houses, play music and shout from their cars.
However, VIP Shisha manager Mosen Yari says when he is at the lounge he monitors outside noise.
“Any time I am there, I take care of it,” he says.
Yari says VIP Shisha has received noise complaints on a few particularly busy nights such as birthdays, but is unaware of the extent to which local residents have been complaining.
He says it is vital to learn about the issues so he can address the problems raised by residents.
Oak Street resident Lorette Partenio says that although VIP Shisha is not a bar, its clientele will often be drinking on the street until early hours of the morning.
Partenio says she has witnessed scenes of vandalism and violence – her own car and others have been damaged, including scratched paintwork, broken tail lights, and mirrors being kicked off.
“This is the kind of thing we are putting up with,” she says. “The noise, the garbage, the whole thing.”
Darrell Thomas, owner of Darrell Thomas Textiles next door to VIP Shisha, says most mornings there is a mess of gum and cigarette butts on his porch.
Although Thomas’s business is not usually directly affected by VIP Shisha or its patrons, he says during evening sewing classes held in his store, loud music from next door is often distracting, and asking for the volume to be lowered is mostly ineffective.
“They turn it down temporarily for a few minutes, and then instantaneously up again,” Thomas says. “It’s disrespectful.”
Metcalf says the hookah lounge is unlike other nearby bars in that is has no sign outside requesting consideration for their neighbours. He says that he, like most residents, no longer feels comfortable to directly confront disrespectful patrons. An alternative option is contacting bylaw enforcement officers before 2 a.m. or the police afterwards.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes says late-night noise issues are a low priority for the police and hopes that bylaw officers will eventually be available on a 24-hour basis.
Holmes confirmed that there have been four noise complaints against VIP Shisha – most recently in mid-October – which have resulted in three noise bylaw citations.
Neighbouring residents say several complaints made to bylaw officers have never been acknowledged or responded to.
Metcalf says there have been occasions when he has called the city to expand on previously made complaints and no record of his calls has been found.
“I feel like our message is not getting heard,” he says. “It’s disheartening.”