Mo’s Pub and Eatery in Langley served its last pint Sunday, but not until after an 11th hour permit was issued for Saturday night by the city.

The issue was resolved in a short, 10-minute city council special meeting Friday, Dec. 11. The council approved an amplified music permit, the only one applied for and granted to pub owner Maureen Cooke this year. A city ordinance created in response to persistent complaints about noise from Mo’s Pub allowed up to six amplified music permits each year.

After reading about the pub’s closure and a scheduled performance by Timothy Hull and Western Heroes in The Record, interim planning director Jack Lynch said he contacted Cooke to inform her of the need for a permit.

“The process was actually followed, albeit normally one would hope that one would be aware when the city council meets and would do that in advance,” Lynch said in a followup interview Monday.

“We wanted to follow the procedure,” he added.

Cooke closed the restaurant this week because she is in the process of selling the Second Street building and property. Originally, she had planned to have the music performances Sunday, Dec. 13. City rules around amplified music performances require that they conclude by 10 p.m. Sundays, so Cooke revised her plans to move the bands to Saturday.

Mayor Fred McCarthy said the city could have done nothing, then cited Cooke. Instead, the city reached out to her to avoid any conflict.

“I think the city went to great lengths to put Mrs. Cooke in the position of having done something legal,” McCarthy said.

Neighbors have complained for years, essentially since Mo’s Pub opened in 2011, about excessive noise. The pub is located next to residences, one of the few establishments within the city’s central business district to abut single-family homes.

That conflict of use between surrounding home owners and the business owner reared its head early and often at Langley City Hall. Neighbors filed complaints about noise, and called the city’s police department, only to have their concerns dismissed. The first official citation for excessive noise was issued in August. Police Chief Dave Marks said he responded to calls and could hear the outside crowd from more than 150 feet away. The citation carried a $150 fine, the only one issued to Mo’s Pub by the city.