It's 2am. You're trying to sleep, but there's the mother of all house parties raging next door. The kind where it sounds like the windows might spontaneously combust and someone passes out in the front garden.
We've all been there - and realistically, at some point in our lives, we've been the ones making the noise.
But are we significantly more likely to be plagued by noisy neighbours in some cities - or boroughs within them - than others?
Going by statistics gathered by conveyancing, surveying and removal services provider Compare My Move, the answer is yes.
The research is based on the number of noise complaints received by local councils over the last three years.
So, who's making the biggest racket? Leeds, apparently. The city clocked up a whopping 27, 316 noise complaints, closely followed by Glasgow (20, 521), and Belfast with (20, 216).
The top ten UK cities with the noisiest neighbours are below, ranked alongside their total number of noise complaints from 2016-2019:
- Leeds - 27,316
- Glasgow - 20,521
- Belfast - 20,261
- Birmingham - 15,643
- Manchester - 15,131
- Southampton - 10,135
- Liverpool - 9,090
- Leicester - 7,507
- Sheffield - 7,172
- Bradford - 6,767
Looking at London, we can reveal the noisiest boroughs were Westminster (trust politicians to make a lot of noise) with 50, 569 complaints. Coming in second was Kensington and Chelsea (41, 499) and third Hammersmith and Fulham (41, 412).
- Westminster - 50,569
- Kensington and Chelsea - 41,499
- Hammersmith and Fulham - 41,412
- Southwark - 32,273
- Haringey - 16,319
- Wandsworth - 11,759
- Greenwich - 11,265
- Ealing - 11,264
- Redbridge - 9,878
- Waltham Forest - 9,143
Call us devil's advocates, but it's interesting to consider whether these are genuinely the noisiest cities and boroughs across the country, or those where the neighbours are quickest to complain?
Sadly, there's no easy way of exploring that alternative theory.
We'll be packing some ear plugs on our next trip to Leeds, just in case.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash/Shutterstock