Seven Main Street residents said disruptions from Doc Big Loves bar routinely keep them up at night and in general are a nuisance to the area.

The bar, which opened in October 2006, frequently has live music, but neighbors on the 400 block say the problems come from bar patrons too.

Andrew Tilden lives above his jewelry store M. Schon, which is across the street from the bar.

“Ever since I opened, I have been denied peace and quiet in my own home,” Tilden said.

Complaints culminated two weeks ago when a Doc Big Loves customer reportedly punched through the display window at children’s store Growing Pains. The bar patron left a trail of blood and ruined some store merchandise. The window is now covered with plywood.

“I have been here for five years, and up until this point I have just had an occasional beer bottle in my doorway,” owner Tracy Henry said.

Bobby Dennis, a manager at Odom’s Optical said the problems go beyond noise and vandalism. He has to arrive early to work in order to clean up bottles and human waste on his portico.

“It isn’t right for elderly customers to have to come in and step over debris left from the previous night,” Dennis said. “However, it is a simple problem they can solve themselves.”

But Doc Big Loves owner Bobby Derrick said his business is not a nuisance and he does work to solve the problems.

Derrick said he has installed stage curtains, shifted entrance doors, and sound proofed windows in order to accommodate complaints.

Derrick prides himself on the cleanliness of his facilities.

“We do not allow bottles or cups out of our door,” Derrick said. “You won’t find so much of a cigarette butt once we get done cleaning the street.”

But Virginia Conn of Netterville Jewelry Store said she arrives at work to trash and human waste in the mornings.

“If Doc Big Loves had been what they said it was originally planned to be, it would not be a problem,” Conn said.

Conn and other neighbors said they feel Derrick deceived them before opening the bar, saying it was going to be a “family oriented” restaurant that sold alcohol.

“As far as this bar goes, this block was zoned to serve alcohol in 1964,” Derrick said. “And as far as I know, no one has lived on this block for that long. Those people chose to live in a commercially zoned area. My business is not going anywhere.”

Derrick said he feels he has only helped Main Street.

“I took an old building and gave it life,” Derrick said. “A lot of good things happen here.”

Doc Big Loves is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday closing at approximately 2:30 a.m.

The usually serves about 150 customers a night, Derrick said. Mississippi laws allow for Natchez bars to run for 24 hours seven days a week. Long nights are part of the problem with Main Street residents.

“From Thursday to Sunday we have to live in the back of our house,” Darby’s owner Darby Short said.