Champs Sports Bar to ban dancing, karaoke after noise complaints

Champs is halting dance and karaoke events as the bar deals with noise complaints. (Champs Sports Bar/Instagram)

A dive bar on St-Laurent Boulevard is halting dance and karaoke events after the neighbouring landlord filed a noise complaint.

Champs Sports Bar, which became a hotspot for the LGBTQ+ community, said they tried to resolve the issue amicably but were unable to. It is now working on soundproofing.

The Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) requires alcohol permit holders to have an additional licence to allow what it calls “the practice of dance” in an establishment, mainly to regulate nightclubs.

Pamela Bernstein, an administrative employee at Champs who has been working on resolving the issue, said the bar sometimes has DJs that get people to dance, but the speakers are the equivalent of a home sound system.

“Is it a nightclub? A big place with massive speakers that needs to be regulated in this way? Not in our opinion. It’s a dive bar, with trivia nights, pool tables and some sports and sometimes your favourite song comes on our small speakers, and you want to bop around to it,” she told CTV News in an email.

Champs shares a building with three other venues, including Blue Dog, which is known for hosting electronic music DJs, and has been running for decades. There are fears the other venues will be affected by the complaints.

Bernstein said now staff will have to be “policing all customers, forbidding them from dancing, whether that be waiting at the bar for their order or around their tables.”

To get their dance permit, Champs will need permission from the RACJ and make sure it follows proper zoning requirements from the borough. Bernstein said though the bar is installing a soundproof wall to obtain the RACJ permit, it’s not guaranteed to work due to the existing complaints from the neighbour.

Bernstein said the RACJ also forced the bar to suspend all operations for five days and pay a $3,000 fine for allowing karaoke and dancing. The soundproofing is estimated to cost the bar $14,000.

The RACJ did not comment, but confirmed the file was evaluated at a hearing on Friday.

Protecting independent venues

Jon Weisz, head of SMAQ — which represents music venues in Quebec — said a major issue is that it’s not always clear what sound levels are unacceptable. The city did acoustic testing at Champs and determined it fell within its rules around noise.

“There's no decibel limit, there's no there's no recorded standards. It's really all case by case, and so establishments don't know if the amount of noise they're emitting is legal or illegal at any time, which is obviously quite problematic,” he said in an interview.

The possible consequence, he said, is the loss of independent music and cultural spaces, which are often the only venues local musicians have to play in. He pointed to the closing of music venue La Tulipe over noise complaints as a prime example.

“While Champs isn't a concert venue … they represent a safe space for certain cultural communities,” said Weisz.

“As an LGBTQ+-friendly space in the Plateau, I think it's really important to make sure Champs can stick around. Not everyone has always had spaces in which they feel comfortable,” he said, especially downtown.

He said that as the Plateau area of Montreal gets gentrified by people who find noisy venues to be a nuisance, the city's bylaws tends to side with residents.

The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough said it closed its file on Champs after the bar's activities were deemed compliant with regulations. It also said it gave Champs a dance floor permit, though the bar still needs to apply for one from the RACJ. The borough will try to help the owners find solutions to comply with the RACJ's requirements.

"We want to underline that nightlife is a cornerstone of Montreal's identity, playing a crucial role in our cultural and economic vitality. While finding balance with the neighborhood can sometimes be complex, we remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting our bars and nightlife institutions, like this one," said spokesperson Samy-Kim Houasnia in a written statement.

Weisz and Bernstein both hope the city will step in and do more to protect independent venues.

“Mayor Valerie Plante was quoted as saying ‘No to the dictatorship of a neighbour,’ in reference to the La Tulipe situation, and that’s exactly what our situation is a result of,” said Bernstein.