POLICE raided a noisy Greenock nightspot and confiscated its DJ equipment following mounting complaints from residents living directly above.

Officers swooped on the Waterline pub in Cathcart Street and removed record decks and other equipment following a flurry of calls from fed-up flat owners.

The move came after environmental health chiefs had built up a dossier of complaints about the premises covering a period of several months, the Telegraph understands.

Council bosses had noise monitoring equipment installed nearby — and the pub’s owners were already on notice regarding the level of grievance, it has been confirmed.

Sergeant Allan O’Hare of Greenock police today told the Telegraph that a manager at the bar is now facing a criminal charge under the Civic Government Scotland Act. Sgt O’Hare said: “The environmental health noise team had been dealing with the management for several months regarding complaints from the residents above.

“Noise detecting equipment was installed and monitored over a period of time. The premises were also visited previously by the police and officers had already told the management that complaints about noise would be dealt with robustly.” People who live directly within the same building as the pub alerted environmental health officers about the noise coming from the premises on Friday 14 March.

The council team — who took noise level readings — then called in police to deal with the situation after deeming the volume excessive.

Sergeant O’Hare said: “The environmental health team were called by residents regarding further complaints of excessive noise emanating from the premises.

“The team in turn contacted police and the equipment being used to create the noise was confiscated.

“A report has now been sent to the procurator fiscal.

“The manager of the pub has been charged under Section 54 of the Civic Government Scotland Act.” The law covers anyone who operates a ‘sound producing device’ which causes annoyance and then fails to ‘desist’ after being required to do so by police.

The Waterline bar is owned by the operators of Greenock nightclub Word Up.

A spokesman for the pub told the Telegraph: “We have been operating for the last five years without any issues.

“We’re still open for business and we hope to have the situation resolved quite quickly.” Inverclyde Council said that the pub had previously been served with a number of notices by enforcement officers regarding noise.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “The bar was served with notices to keep the noise down after complaints were received and, despite assurances that action would be taken, the same situation continued.

“Noise levels were still too high and the council and police took the action to remove the equipment.

“A report will now be sent to licensing outlining the situation and the action taken.”