Tourist complaints see overnight chimes from historic town square’s clock silenced

A very large wall clock which is illuminated.
By Christian Fleetwood


An historic British clock will be silenced after midnight following complaints it disturbed hotel guests’ sleep.

In the Welsh town of Newtown, an historic clock that chimes every 15 minutes (day and night) will be silenced after midnight, after local councillors voted in favour of the move.

This follows reports of accommodations receiving poor online review from tourists who complained they had not had a good night’s sleep due to the constant overnight chimes, BBC News reported.

According to the news outlet, councillors voted to silence the clock between midnight and 6:00am.

Bosses at three businesses will reportedly front the bill of about £3,000 (around $ 5,485) for a new mechanism that will adjust the chimes, which currently occur every 15 minutes.

Speaking to BBC News, town mayor David Selby said Newtown was a “destination town” and it was important for hotels to get “repeat business”.

“The council listened carefully,” he said. “We are not switching the clock off. We are allowing it to strike to midnight.”

In a separate report by the news outlet, Selby said the town was “ambitious” and that it wanted to grow its tourism industry; the move comes in a bid to support local businesses, but a local B&B owner said it had not been received without criticism.

“The outcome is good but it didn’t come without a backlash,” B&B owner Tina Lovatt told BBC News, referring to comments from other people opposed to the decision.

A woman in support of maintaining the historic clock’s chimes suggested if tourists don’t like the clock, they can stick earplugs in.

“Bed and breakfast people in this town have complained about it. They have to provide shampoo and shower gel – why don’t they provide earplugs?

“That’s all they need, earplugs in the bedroom,” the woman told BBC News.

One guest who stayed in a B&B in the town rated the experience as “terrible” on TripAdvisor, saying they checked out a day early on a two-night stay “due to the unbearable noise from the town clock that rings every 15 minutes 24 hours a day”, as reported by the news outlet.

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