Some would consider living next door to a restaurant an extra amenity. You can pop by for a quick meal or a drink, become a regular face, and fully immerse yourself in the culture of the neighborhood. But for one Weston-super-Mare resident, living next to a restaurant has become a decades-long nightmare — because all he can smell is garlic.
Richard Evans has lived next to Duets restaurant for the past thirty years, but only recently has this neighborly relationship deteriorated into chaos. Starting about two years ago, Evans began complaining to Duets’ owners, Sean and Lyn O’Flaherty, about the garlic smell billowing from their kitchen fans, to which the O’Flahertys have responded, “Don’t live next door to a restaurant.”
According to Bristol Live, Evans has resorted to posting signs in his windows that read, “His extractor fan has been polluting my outside space for years…I’m sick of it!”
Evans told Bristol Live, “Living next to a restaurant shouldn’t be a problem for me. The fan pumps cooking smells and noise into my yard. It’s five foot away from my window and ten foot away from my back door.” He claims that the garlic smell is so potent that he’s been forced to spend his summers inside with the windows and doors closed.
Who knew garlic could cause such a feud https://t.co/N3cdxyBx5m
— Bristol Live (@BristolLive) October 15, 2018
The signs are “depressing” to the O’Flahertys, who moved their restaurant into the neighborhood a year before Evans moved next door. “Since he moved in his complaints have gone from noise to fumes,” Mr. O’Flaherty said. “No matter what we do, it’ll always be something.”
In fact, when Evans first issued a complaint about Duets, the O’Flahertys updated their fan system in an effort to appease him. But that clearly wasn’t enough.
A sign posted in a Duets’ window assures customers that “all noise levels emitted by [the] extraction system remain fully compliant with North Somerset Council’s assessment of noise pollution.” Mrs. O’Flaherty told Bristol Live that Evans’ signs have yet to affect their business.
Honestly, there are worse smells that Evans could be subjected to than garlic (unless he’s a vampire — which hasn’t yet been ruled out). Perhaps if the two parties could just shake hands, they could make amends over a plate of pasta… or garlic bread.
