Haworth building linked to Brontës to host parties after licence approved
The Old School Room in the heart of Haworth was built by Patrick Brontë, the patriarch of the literary family, almost 200 years ago.
PARTIES in a historic building built by the Brontë family have led to noise complaints from neighbours – a meeting was told.
The Old School Room in the heart of Haworth was built by Patrick Brontë, the patriarch of the literary family, almost 200 years ago.
All three of the Brontë sisters and their brother Branwell taught at the building at some point.
The building is now managed by the Brontë Spirit charity, and hosts community events, drinks festivals, craft fairs and wedding parties.
In 2013 it even hosted a concert by rock legend Patti Smith.
Bradford Council recently received a licensing application for the premises.
It would allow the venue to serve alcohol between 9am and 11pm and host live music.
Kathryn Thornton of Burnt Bear would be the licence holder.
But the Council’s Environmental Health department had raised objections to the application. It said: “The building has large windows and next to no sound insulation in addition to no alternative means of ventilation for when the building gets hot other than to open windows and doors.
“The application will be an intensification of use, and it is my opinion we are likely to get complaints that will not easily be resolved because the structure of the Old School Room and its location.
“The Old School room backs onto existing residential properties on the Fold.
“I have received a complaint in July 2025 about the school rooms from a nearby resident, alleging loud music, raised voices and litter being thrown over the wall into gardens.
“The complainant said that they could not sit out in their garden or open their windows when Temporary Events were being held, especially weddings events involving music.”
Last week the application went before the Council’s Bradford Licensing Panel – where members ultimately voted to grant the licence.
Mrs Thornton told members she had been organising events in the historic building for 14 years.
Previous events in the venue, which have included weddings and drinks festivals, had been held using Temporary Event Notices.
Venues are only allowed a certain amount of TENs each year.
A letter by Bronte Spirit sent to the Council said: “The Bronte Spirit Charity aim is to keep the building as a functional community space while preserving its literary heritage.
“In relation to the bookings of parties The Old School Room has a policy relating to age restrictions for birthday parties, we do not accept any birthday party for the age of 30 or under we also don’t allow teenager parties. All our bookings are carefully vetted to try and prevent any issues.”
She told the panel they had decided to apply for a full licence as it would reduce the reliance on TENs. With a dedicated licence holder, it would also help ensure events go smoothly by having someone there to oversee events.
Mrs Thornton said: “There has been one issue in the last 14 years. We never get complaints from neighbours. It is a great community asset for the village.
“We could continue running events on TENS, but it is not manageable.”
She questioned the complaint about noise from a previous event – pointing out that there are three pubs a short distance away from the schoolroom.
Mrs Thornton added: “We’re doing this to control noise and control people so we don’t have any complaints.”
Charlotte Kaygill Environmental Health officer for Bradford Council, said if the venue was given a full licence, it could host more events.
She said the protected nature of the building raised problems – the large, single glazed windows are not ideal for noise insulation, but they cannot be replaced with double glazing.
She added: “The premises is not suitable, in my point of view, for this licence.”
She told the panel there had in fact been “a series of complaints over the years about noise, from various different people.”
Mrs Thornton acknowledged that some bands playing events in the venue had been “loud” in the past, but said having a dedicated licence holder on site would prevent this from happening in the future.
The panel was told the hall was more likely to be hosting craft fairs than noisy parties.
She added: “The School Room is a hive of activity, and we want to keep it vibrant. The last thing we want to do is upset anyone.”
The panel voted to approve the licence, on the condition that a noise limited be installed to prevent any overly loud music from being played inside.