I have had a bar next door to the cultural centre in Lagos (Rua Lançarote de Freitas, Nº 15) since November 2004. However, I feel that I am being harassed by one member of the public. This person has been complaining to the police about the level of noise, about one of my outside spotlights shining in his bedroom window (he lives on the third floor, at least 50 metres away, and the street light next to the bar is brighter than the spotlights) and about the people out in the street talking. He actually shouts from his terrace for people to be quiet, as he has to work the next morning.
However, we have a Residência (guesthouse) directly opposite us and, upon us asking them about the noise, they stated that they have no problems whatsoever with it.
Things came to a head one night recently when, while I had customers sat outside, he was videoing the bar from his terrace. The customers were not happy about this and we called the police, who came and spoke to us and him. The police have now logged the incident as a complaint from us against him for invasion of privacy.
We are not the only bar having problems with him. There are four bars in total on the street. My view is, if you are going to live in the centre of Lagos, practically above a bar, you are going to have music noise and people talking outside!
The person in question is a local solicitor, who, in fact, drew up the contract for us to rent the bar in November! He is also a member of Friends of Lagos, who are trying to get rid of some of the bars in town. He and his Friends of Lagos, however, won’t close this one down! If anyone else is having the same problems, please contact us!
Susan Davey
(Harassed)
