End the ban on background music

What it asks

What the petitioner did first

1. 25 Nov 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   New Petitions
   1 mention

1. Scotland29 65.9%
2. United Kingdom15 34.1%

1. GARY ANDERSON 7 Oct 2020
   If retail can have background music on with no consequence or closure the hospitality sector must be allowed music.
2. Dave Wood 7 Oct 2020
   Utterly ridiculous. No need for it at all.
3. alexander Haig 8 Oct 2020
   The ban on background music has a detrimental effect for many people in the hospitality sector with minimal benefit to tackling Covid 19
4. Alan McLeod 16 Oct 2020
   As social beings, we express ourselves most Beautifully through art, most especially music. Our means of understanding each other and caring for each other is made much easier when music entwines itself around our existence.
5. Graham Barnes 17 Oct 2020
   I love listening to music (live and recorded) but as someone with hearing difficulties (I need to wear an aid in each ear to understand words said in a conversation) I find that background music in an environment where I need to listen to speech is one of the banes of my life because it is like adding an electronic 'noise' overlay that just confuses the speech.
6. Mrs M Hay 23 Oct 2020
   Judicious use of background music within a restaurant should not present a problem, to ban background music is simply tinkering. There are probably higher levels of background noise in places like supermarkets.
7. Roberta Murray 24 Oct 2020
   It should be up to each establishment as they know their customer base. It has no effect on Covid 19 ad per any other virus out there around the world
8. Lorna Reid 25 Oct 2020
   Essential to life itself.
9. Lorna Reid 25 Oct 2020
   Essential to life itself. Live and background music
10. Jim Guyan 26 Oct 2020
    I oppose this petition. Background music creates nothing but problems to people like myself who are hard of hearing and have two hearing aids. The main problem is that it has ceased to be background music but is set at a level that it is not background music. If we must have this then there must be limits set on what constitutes background music in terms of the volume.
11. Andrew Fraser 30 Oct 2020
    As a musician, I think music should only be provided where it is welcome by ALL those in a venue, of whatever type. A ban isn't quite fair, but I am in no hurry to see it lifted, and I do sympathise with Jim Guyan. Causing problems to such as he is just plain bad manners. If people really cannot do without music
    - there are headphones.
12. Roberta Murray 6 Nov 2020
    Its ridiculous in Scotland, that no music allowed, and should go ahead, again. If live participants are not near audience. Background music is not a problem at all. But no dancing to music in small space I agree with.
13. Bettina Blanke 16 Nov 2020
    The one good thing about the lockdown is blessedly quiet pubs and restaurants! I love music, but I want to decide when and where I listen to it, and what. If I want to listen to music, I go to a concert. When I'm eating or having a drink with friends, I want to be able to talk. Otherwise I might as well do my drinking at home.
14. Grace Wilson 16 Nov 2020
    I would like to state that I am opposed to ending the ban on background music in pubs and restaurants. As someone with a moderate hearing disability, I have found the lack of background music during the pandemic an absolute godsend. It has been one of the few positive things to come out of these hard times. Previously, background music has meant that I find it very difficult to participate fully in conversations and there is a tendency to become isolated and opt out of social situations. If music has to be reintroduced, I would plead for hospitality venues to provide music free areas or at least for a reduction in the level of noise. After all, people like myself are paying customers and should not be discriminated against.
15. Dorothy Lewis 16 Nov 2020
    The ban on background music in restaurants and bars during the pandemic has actually been very welcome to a large number of us. Enforced background music is intolerable to many people with a huge range of, often hidden, health problems. People with autism, hyperacusis, ME, tinnitus, impaired vision, brain injuries, etc., find that non stop music in public places makes their lives a misery. People with hearing loss, about 1 in 5 of the population, over 70 per cent of the over-70s, struggle to hear others talk in noisy bars and restaurants. If venues do bring back music, please could they try to provide quiet areas where background music is not played. They managed to provide non smoking areas before smoking was banned completely in public places, so surely non music areas are feasible, too. Otherwise we will return to the situation which existed before the ban on background music, where many people with hidden disabilities were reluctant to venture into noisy venues and risked becoming more isolated as a result.
16. Grace Wilson 16 Nov 2020
    As someone with a moderate hearing loss I am opposed to lifting the ban on background music in hospitality venues. The lack of this extra noise has been an absolute godsend and one of the few positive things to come from the virus. For someone like myself, background music means that conversation is a huge struggle and I often give up in despair. This is one of the reasons why hearing impaired people become socially isolated and prone to depression. As a paying customer, surely my needs are as important as everyone else? If background music has to be reintroduced, I would plead for venues to provide music free zones or, at the very least, to reduce the volume of the music to a low level.
17. Anne Wellman 16 Nov 2020
    I am in favour of keeping the silence, please. Many people with hearing and sensory problems suffer great distress from background music.
18. Connie Reader 16 Nov 2020
    I oppose this petition. One of the few good things about the lockdown restrictions is that I can go into a pub or cafe (when they are allowed to open), and enjoy a quiet drink or a meal, or a chat with my friends, without having someone else's choice of music forced upon me.
    
    Don't get me wrong. I like music as much as the next person. In the same way, I like good food. But I don't want it to be forced down my throat everywhere I go.
19. M Ramage 16 Nov 2020
    I oppose the petition and strongly feel that loud background music should not be permitted in enclosed spaces. If you need to shout then it is too loud. I find it intrusive and it spoils my experience of restaurants, cafes etc. so much so that I will leave a shop or restaurant where loud music is playing, thereby depriving the business of income they would otherwise have had. I know of many people who feel the same, regardless of whether or not they have underlying health issues.
20. penny mckee 16 Nov 2020
    I oppose this petition as I find 'background music' most irritating in cafes and restaurants, as I come to socialise and do not like shouting or straining to hear my companions speak. Glad it has been stopped because of epidemic. Music is often too noisy and intrusive. MOST young managers and waiters reluctant to turn it down but I am the customer.
21. Ian mckee 18 Nov 2020
    Disagree with this petition. Canned music spoils many social occasions and is particularly disagreeable in hospitals. It tends to be chosen by young members of staff who have often different tastes in music from their elder customers.
22. Helen Rowles 18 Nov 2020
    Offering Quiet hours might help for those who like socialising but cannot manage the music for varied reasons.
23. George Frederick Winter 19 Nov 2020
    The ban on background music should NOT be lifted. Having someone else's choice of music blaring in a cafe or restaurant subtracts from the natural atmosphere generated by conversation and laughter. In pubs and clubs managers want loud music because it prevents people from talking and encourages them to drink more.