Bosses at a Trafford pub have been told 'that's the risk' as they lost a bid to stay open later - and instead had new restrictions slapped on their licence.
Garrick's Head, in Moorside Road, Flixton, wanted to extend its opening hours to 12.30am on Sundays through Thursdays, 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays and 2.30am around bank holidays. It also wanted permission to be able to extend opening hours until 2am on up to 20 days each year and to sell alcohol in the beer garden.
But following interventions from neighbours, Trafford council's licensing committee opted instead to impose a number of new conditions on the pub. Those conditions had been intended by the applicant as safeguards had the extended hours been allowed.
Residents complain about 'nightclub hours'
The decision followed around an hour of representations from residents who labelled the proposed changes as 'nightclub hours' and said they had been suffering for years. Complaints included disturbed sleep, fights in the street, public urination and littering.
One neighbour, who has lived in Brook Road with his wife since 1977, described the venue as 'raucous and rowdy'. He added: "Before we retired, we had to go to work, get up at 6am, get ready and then go to work tired out, and there'd been many a noise being made.
"We've witnessed people urinating in the street across the road, on the steps of the old co-operative building, which has now become a café on one side and a Christian bookshop on the other."
Another added: "I believe a home should be where we feel safe. It should be somewhere where we can rest, sleep, recover from the demands of the day and spend time with people that we love.
"But living so close to the pub means we've been exposed to disturbed sleep, we've witnessed arguments, harrowing altercations at times which are not public inconveniences. They are harrowing experiences that affect our quality of life and our mental health."
A third said: "I've experienced late night drinkers coming back, domestics outside my house, fighting. I've had altercations with people urinating and it's got a bit nasty. I've had people parking in my driveway from the pub. Basically, I'm just worried about what late night drinking will bring."
Council receives 41 valid representations
Another person said: "After midnight, voices, taxis, engines, car doors are far more noticeable.
"Later hours could also draw people from other venues who want to continue drinking, bringing more pedestrians, vehicles and taxis into the residents of the streets and increasing the risk of disturbance and disorder. This should be a local pub, not a late night destination, not a nightclub."
Council officers said they had received 41 'valid' representations related to the proposed licence change, along with a further 17 representations they deemed not valid due to 'missing information'.
Councillor Karina Carter described the strength of feeling in the community as 'unprecedented'. She said she has had 'more casework' from Flixton residents related to the pub than 'any other subject' and is aware of two families who are thinking of moving.
'Forcing nightclub hours' onto the neighbourhood would be an example of 'systematic unfairness', she added.
Coun Carter said: "[Residents'] experiences [are of] noise, broken glass on the pavement every week, anti-social behaviour, public urination, criminality, violence and intimidation [...] Keep late night hours in town and city centres.
"Don't let the two families that I'm aware of who are already moving out of the area because of problems in the area turn into a stampede."
Pub's agent defends application
The agent speaking for the pub disputed claims that management was seeking 'nightclub hours'. She described the venue as 'community-focused', adding: "[The owner] absolutely refutes that the premises is a hotbed of crime and disorder.
"All licensed premises invariably have some incidents associated with them, however well run they are. But the Garrick's Head is a community-focused premises which generally trades without any significant issues."
The built-in permission to trade later up to 20 days a year was intended to reduce the need for the owners to apply for Temporary Event Notices (TENs), the agent added. No new customers would have been allowed within one hour of alcohol sales ending in an effort to restrict people being drawn to the pub to continue their nights out after other venues close.
On the proposed alcohol sales in the garden, she added this would have allowed a temporary bar to be set up during summer months which would 'make it easier to manage that space' and allow for greater supervision.
She added: "If you were to grant the application in its amended terms, the pub will continue to trade as it does now as a vibrant and popular sports and entertainment pub, which serves the local community with hours which are slightly later than present, but which have traded successfully under TENs in recent years."
When the agent questioned the decision, saying the pub had come away with 'no extra hours' but 'more restrictions', she was told by officers that is 'the risk that you run when you apply for a variation of the licence'.
