After months of in-depth measurements and over half a million kroner in measures, it is now clear that Side Track, Stockholm’s oldest gay bar, can stay. The conflict began after a neighbor who had recently moved in complained about the noise level.
– I have been here for 36 years, the neighbor moved in a year and a half ago. Still, I’m the one who had to fight to stay, says Fredrik Arnegard, who runs Side Track.
The conflict between side track and the neighbor has provoked strong reactions and received a lot of media attention. A petition has also been launched to support Side Track.
Since the neighbor complained, Fredrik Arnegard has had to pay for several different noise measurements from the municipality, as well as rebuilding the building, dampening the noise and changing the ventilation. In the end, he passed the community test.
– If I didn’t have the money, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. Then Side Track, the closest thing to an institution in the city, had to close, says Fredrik Arnegard.
He’s happy but also frustrated with how much money he had to spend and how complicated it was.
– Now the neighbor is moving too. After all that. I hope the next person who moves in understands that this is a pub. We are still in the middle of the city, in a pedestrian zone. It’s the subway, the S-Bahn and the hustle and bustle. This is not news, says Fredrik Arnegard.
– I’m not very social, but I’m social at work. I love this place. Side Track must be allowed to stay even when I’m gone.
