Divina (83) has been living next to the Fuse nightclub for 58 years, but denounces the mandatory closure: “Young people should be able to go out, right?” (Brussels)
This weekend there will be no music in the Brussels nightclub Fuse, due to a complaint from a single neighbor. However, the disco should not be closed to the other neighbors if necessary. “I have lived next to the Fuse building for 58 years and have not experienced any nuisance,” says Divina Goas (83). “Young people should be able to go out, right?”
On Thursday nightclub Fuse announced via a statement on its website that it would close with immediate effect. The reason was an oblique side of Brussels Environment stating that the noise level should not exceed 95 decibels and the club must close its doors at 2 am.
A neighbor who bought an adjoining house complained about noise nuisance and in 2014 a file was opened at Brussels Environment. This week followed that until the closure of the iconic nightclub. For neighbor Divina Goas (83) it was not to come to pass. “The conscious neighbor has already knocked on my door three times to sign a petition against Fuse. I developed that, because although I also live next to the nightclub, I don’t have the last of them.”
Neighborhood cinema
The woman has lived here for 58 years and has seen the building evolve from a neighborhood cinema to a nightclub. “Before Fuse around here, there was more noise pollution,” she says. “I even signed a petition against the noise nuisance caused by the current discotheque (Le Disque Rouge, ed.) caused. The outside doors were always open there, so that the music could be heard in our living rooms.”
READ ALSO. Conflict with neighbor kills discotheque Fuse after 29 years
“But with the arrival of the new club and the new owners, the nuisance has improved at the same time. I have seen and especially heard that they have put a lot of effort into the isolation of the club.”
Earn bread
That has had an effect. “Right now I can’t even hear the music that’s being played inside. I only hear something when the young people go home after the parties, but that’s not too bad either. Young people should be able to go out and other people should be able to earn a living with what they organize, I think.”
Goas hopes that the club can open its doors again soon. “And I am not alone in storage. Also, to my knowledge, the neighbor who filed the complaint is the only person who has a problem with Fuse.”
Nostalgia
Fuse does not have to close permanently for Dirk De Sutter either. “I pass here every week when I go to the flea market. Most often I see the last young people leave the building, or when the cleaning is already underway and the water flows out under the door. I would miss that, because that is pure nostalgia for me. Whether the neighbor is a troublemaker or not, I do not comment on that.”
A petition to keep the Fuse open has garnered more than 30,000 signatures in a day.