If you were in Montréal looking for a place to dance this weekend, you might be surprised to learn that local lesbian haunt Champ’s Sports Bar is closed. Its closure is one mandated by the Régie Des Alcools.

Champ’s Sports Bar, located on St Laurent in the heart of the Plateau, will be closed from March 6 through March 10th. This suspension handed down by the Régie Des Alcools is related to the dive bar's punishment for allowing patrons to “dance on the premises without a permit” according to a pinned post on the bar’s Instagram page.

The complaint was filed by one of Champ’s neighbors back in the fall, a landlord who owns the property next to the bar.

Champ’s suspension has received public outcry as yet another example of Montreal’s nightlife scene being affected by noise complaints. Earlier last year, music venue La Tulipe was forced to close due to similar noise complaints.

I interviewed Sergio Da Silva, who owns Turbo Haüs in the city’s quartier des spectacles, to speak on the matter. Da Silva has faced his own share of noise complaints and actively tries to do his part to ensure Turbo Haüs doesn't follow the same fate as La Tulipe.

Da Silva has fitted in sound isolating fixtures and has also bought the units above, all in an effort to reduce the possibility of receiving noise complaints. We talk about the attempts at nightlife policy in Montréal, the vivacity of the arts, and the decline of safety that goes hand in hand with the closures of so many show spaces.