A Sydney Bar Has Banned Bocce After the Soft Clinking of Balls Annoyed Neighbours

It’s no secret that Sydney hates fun. Ever since the infamous lockout laws were trotted out at the beginning of 2014, the city’s after-dark culture has been suffering a slow death at the hands of property developers, policy makers, and hypersensitive baby boomers who don’t care for post-6PM noise. But if the city’s nightlife had any life left to speak of, then its death rattle, as it just so happens, is the sound of two metal bocce balls clinking together.

This week, the City of Sydney Council’s iron fist came down on an inner-city bar for allowing patrons to play petanque—a French game that’s pretty much just bocce with metal balls—in the beer garden. Someone lodged a noise complaint about the “irritating” sound made by the balls striking against one another, according to the ABC, and now Black Bottle Wine Bar, in Darlinghurst, is banned from hosting the game. To reiterate: a bocce-related noise complaint, in the urban heart of Sydney. This is not satire.

"It was said to be irritating," City of Sydney councillor Jess Scully said. "The city is investigating that complaint and also the direction provided."

Owner Marc Tricot played a final game of bocce (petanque) at the bar on Tuesday night, with a small handful of patrons who insist the leisurely ball sport really isn’t that noisy. "What harm does this cause?" Megan Barber, one of the patrons, asked the ABC. "You've heard the noise. It's not loud at all." And while Marc is acknowledging the complaint and taking the advice of the council on board, he also suggests that local residents need to stop being such nerds and accept that there’s going to be some noise when people are enjoying themselves.

"It's the only way to keep a community alive,” he said. “You need residents… but you need bars and restaurants as well."

For what it’s worth, Jess from the City of Sydney kind of seemed to agree, saying that New South Wales needs a "one-stop shop" to determine and enforce what constitutes "reasonable" noise.

"We want to have activity [like] restaurants, bars, performance… but sometimes people have expectations of serenity that maybe don't match their urban context," she said. "What we really need is a consistency of approach to dealing with noise in NSW."

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