Neighbours complained about noise outside a Brighton “beer shop” that has applied to extend the hours of its licence to serve alcohol.
They fear that it could become a pub and said that, on one occasion, customers used tables and chairs past when the premises’ 9pm street licence allowed.
They also cited planning conditions that restricted the trading hours to protect the “amenity” of those living near the Lost and Found Beer Café, in Ditchling Road, at Fiveways.
Business owner Jon Rutter, 55, said that he was surprised to learn about noise concerns because none had been raised with him before.
Mr Rutter wondered whether some of the late evening noise could be coming from the nearby Fiveways pub which had later opening hours.
The business has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to be able to sell alcohol until 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and until midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and bank holidays.
The premises currently closes at 9pm from Sunday to Friday and at 10pm on Saturdays.
The neighbour objections prompted the council to convene a licensing panel, made up of three Labour councillors, to decide the application.
At a hearing today (Monday 1 September), council lawyer Rebecca Siddell said that if the licensed hours were extended, the business would have to keep to the shorter hours in its planning permission unless and until a new planning application was approved.
Neighbour Les Pond said that the neighbours’ main concern was noise and he provided videos of an event on Saturday 9 August.
On that occasion, the premises used a temporary event notice (TEN) to stay open later than usual, the panel was told.
Mr Pond said that customers were using the tables and chairs outside the premises beyond 9pm when they would usually be taken in as per the Lost and Found’s pavement licence.
Neighbours wanted the premises licence to include the same requirement.
Mr Pond said: “The prime thing was an indication of the level of noise we get. It’s reflected across from the other side of Ditchling Road and ingresses on to our street, particularly late at night when the traffic dies down.
“If we’re all trying to sleep upstairs with the windows open on a nice hot summer night, which is when, naturally, people want to be outside, it really does become difficult.
“My wife has changed bedrooms on one occasion because she couldn’t get to sleep.”
Mr Pond said that his neighbour Barbara Hawes was even more badly affected by the noise.
She said: “We are very upset by it. The fact that even when the place is closed people still gather on the street and say goodnight to each other, without any thought of anyone else being in the area at all.”
Mr Rutter said that he had no plans to turn the shop into a fully fledged bar, adding that most of the business consisted of customers buying cans after sampling beers on sale from Sussex breweries.
He said: “At the time of steeply increasing overheads, we’re seeking an extension of opening hours in order to better serve our customers and to support the continued growth of our business.
“We’re known for our safe, friendly and inclusive atmosphere, our carefully curated range of local craft beers and our ongoing commitments to community initiatives and charities.
“We’ve become a popular meeting place for both residents and visitors. We were surprised to learn about the concerns regarding potential noise disturbance as issues have never been raised with us previously.”
Mr Rutter urged neighbours to speak to him or his staff if they ever had an issue with noise.
He said that the Sussex Police, the council licensing team and the council environmental health team had not objected to the application.
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public within five working days.
