Broad St. Cafe: No More Bands After 10 p.m.?

The (Durham) Herald-Sun reported today that popular music venue (err, restaurant?) the Broad St. Cafe has been ordered to cease hosting music after 10 p.m. The story notes that neighbors have complained about the cafe, which they say is operating "illegally" as a night club. The Soulless Dogs' show there last week was cancelled because of the Sept. 21 order. From Ray Gronberg's story:

Lagasse added that the owners would secure the permit if necessary and in any event don’t want to cross the City/County Planning Department. “They could shut us down or give us a big fine that would result in the same thing,” she said.

Inspectors from the Planning Department acted in response to long-running and recently renewed complaints from Waldo Fenner, a Clarendon Street resident who owns two houses that back up to the building that houses the café.

Fenner has maintained that the café has been operating as a nightclub, which by local definition is “an establishment that stays open after 10 p.m. on weekends or on more than an occasional basis” and offers “food and beverages or entertainment and amusements.”

The restaurant is still able to serve food after 10 p.m. but its concerts that remain in jeopardy for the time. Most notably, one has to ask how this will affect Troika, little more than a month away. To boot, Broad St. Cafe is set to host Pipe at 12:15 a.m. Nov. 6, a show that promises to wake some neighbors up. We'll wait and see how the story unfolds. Hopefully, some angry neighbors don't mean the end of a popular music venue.