Along Sri Aurobindo Avenue in Nairobi's Lavington suburb lies one of the city's many stark ironies - a meditation centre that operates on the basis of silence, and next door, a club that thrives on blasting popular music to drunken patrons showing off their dance moves.
On one side of the road is the Sri Aurobindo Society Nairobi Centre, which has a meditation centre where silence is golden.
The meditation centre is designed to help visitors feel the divine presence of spiritual gurus Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfasa, better known to devotees as The Mother.
Across the road is the IBury Lounge, which for more than two years has been at the centre of complaints from some residents who say the establishment has denied them sleep and access to their homes, especially at weekends.
On March 6, when Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki ordered the closure of all bars operating within 300 metres of residential areas and schools, Sri Aurobindo residents thought they would finally get some beauty sleep.
After all, the CS had ordered security agencies across the country to ensure that his order was implemented immediately.
But at 2.44am on March 10, the IBury Lounge was just one of many nightclubs carrying on business as usual.
"We don't sleep at night and we don't have a break. IBury Lounge at 2.44am," reads an emergency message from one of the residents of Sri Aurobindo, with an audio clip of the loud music attached.
Another resident said that most of the people living in the area are either senior citizens or families with school children - categories that need peaceful neighbourhoods.
For more than two years, a group of Lavington residents have raised issues with IBury's operations, insisting that it disrupts their sleep and that the venue's patrons park their vehicles on pedestrian walkways and sometimes block people's gates.
"The lounge lacks sufficient designated parking for its patrons and as a result, residents are subjected to inconvenience from their homes and public pathways as lounge patrons park their vehicles in a manner that blocks the main access road and entrances to the residences. The lounge and its patrons have recklessly destroyed a newly constructed, bollard protected footpath to serve their selfish interests," a group of 11 residents said in a letter to IBury in 2022.
An IBury manager denied the allegations of noise pollution and insisted that the company had a good relationship with most of its neighbours.
Anthony Wachira said following a City Hall crackdown on noisy clubs in 2022, IBury engaged all its neighbours and a solution was reached.
Neighbours, Mr Wachira said, are free to call or text the club's management when noise levels are high and the volume is turned down when a complaint is made.
"Since the issue of noise pollution... We have taken measures. We have soundproofed the place, we have cancelled some big events. We have contacted all the neighbours. We went to all the houses around here. If the noise is too high, they (residents) either call or text and we turn down the volume," said Mr Wachira.
The manager, however, claimed that noise complaints were the exception, not the rule, before pointing out that an unidentified white resident had made the most complaints of all the neighbours.
"But you wouldn't miss one or two people who still complain. Was the complainant a mzungu (white man)? They usually complain a lot," Mr Wachira asked.
Residents have in the past sought the help of experts to measure noise levels from IBury, which at the time were above the legal limit.
According to Nema regulations, the maximum noise level allowed indoors in residential areas is 45 decibels during the day and 35 decibels at night. Outdoors, the maximum permitted level is 50 decibels during the day and 35 decibels at night.
In mixed-use areas, the maximum permitted noise level is 55 decibels during the day and 35 decibels at night.
When experts made an assessment of IBury, the noise levels in 2022 ranged from 60 decibels to 120 decibels.
Mr Wachira said IBury has soundproofed its premises and cancelled all outdoor events that used to take place at night.
