'Too loud' clock to chime every 15 minutes again

Bells will ring again at Birkenhead Town Hall every 15 minutes

The chimes on a historical clock will again ring out every quarter of an hour after being limited for months.

The bells at Birkenhead Town Hall had tolled every fifteen minutes for 137 years until they were reduced to every hour in November 2024 after a resident complained they rang "too loud" and "too often".

Hundreds of people signed a petition calling on the council to reverse its decision.

Councillor and Wirral Heritage Champion Jerry Williams said the hammer that strikes the bell had now been nullified to reduce the noise levels, allowing the chimes to return to their usual schedule.

Wirral councillor Jerry Williams said the sound of the bells had now been softened

Birkenhead residents welcomed the return of the chimes.

"We like the bells," one resident said. "It reminds me when it's 07:15 and I need to get up - it's nice".

The clocktower above Birkenhead Town Hall, close to Hamilton Square, reaches 60m (200ft) in height.

It first started ringing when the town hall opened in 1887 and continued to do so until a resident who lived nearby complained about the volume and frequency of the quarter-hourly tolling of the bells, prompting a council investigation.

An officer went to their home and measured the noise, finding the chiming to have breached limits capable of being classed as a nuisance.

At the time, a council spokeswoman said a "compromise" was reached to move to hourly chimes while the authority considered other options.

Mr Williams said the bells would now ring again from 07:00 into the early evening.