Cova set to transform into a nightclub after winning appeal against Glasgow council decision

A bar in Glasgow city centre is set to become a nightclub after winning an appeal against a council decision to refuse the plan due to noise.

Bosses at Cova on West Regent Street had their bid to convert the venue rejected in 2022, as planners said the change would have a “significant” impact on neighbours.

But councillors have overturned the ruling after environmental health officials raised no objection to a noise impact assessment.

Cllr Ken Andrew, SNP, who chaired the planning review committee, said it was “not unreasonable” to grant permission as environmental health officials were “quite content with what’s proposed in terms of mitigations of noise”.

The owners of Cova, which is based in a B-listed building at 57 West Regent Street, plan to extend the venue’s opening hours from midnight to 4am.

When the nightclub proposal was initially considered, there had been permission for 96 serviced apartments at 55 West Regent Street but that has now lapsed. Nearby nightclub Bamboo is situated at 51 West Regent Street.

According to a council report, there were 16 complaints related to Cova or a nearby nightclub between 2009 and February 2025. These mainly related to “bass noise, loud noise, glass bottles being emptied at 4am” and came from residents at 65 Renfield Street or 48 West Regent Street.

Planners had ruled opening the venue beyond midnight would cause “unacceptable noise and disturbance” for nearby residents. The appeal, on behalf of Cova, claimed it was “nonsense to suggest that in the heart of the largest city in Scotland that any noise after 12 midnight constitutes anti-social behaviour”.

It added that introducing residential uses into the city centre is a “laudable aspiration” but must be “applied with caution” to maintain a “robust and healthy economic environment”.

“Where residential is to be introduced it has to fit within the physical and cultural fabric of the city not seek to impose unreasonable and unsustainable demands,” the appeal continued.

An initial appeal hearing was continued in October 2022 to allow noise levels to be checked. That assessment has been reviewed by the council’s environmental health team, which is not opposed to the plan as long as conditions to protect residents, or noise sensitive buildings, from excessive noise are met.

Conditions are expected to include submitting a survey before work begins to show noise levels will be within acceptable limits and ensuring any required mitigation measures are completed before the nightclub use begins. Details of measures to minimise disturbance when disposing of glass bottles will also be needed.

No external alterations to the building are proposed. The city’s licensing board has to grant a licence for a premises to open until 4am.

At the review meeting, Bailie Hanif Raja, Labour, suggested the city centre is “dead”, with a lot of businesses “complaining about the rates”.

“We need to look at this aspect when we’re considering planning, something like investing a lot of money into opening up a nightclub,” he said. “These people are investing a lot of money in the city and I think we should encourage people like those.”

Cllr Andrew said: “While we would always wish to encourage good business to come into the city, we need to be consistent with planning policy also.

“We can’t run a coach and horses through planning policy on the basis of trying to encourage businesses. I think we have to be mindful of that.”

He added the committee is “quasi-judicial” and must make “legally enforceable decisions”.