South Staffordshire pub can extend opening hours

A South Staffordshire pub can now open from 9am and close one hour later at weekends after changes were made to its premises licence.

The Red Lion at Wombourne will also be allowed to sell alcohol from 9am each day, as well as extending sales to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

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Live music performances can be extended to 11pm on Sundays, while recorded music is allowed until 1.30am at weekends, 12.30am on Thursdays, 11.30pm Monday to Wednesday and 11pm on Sundays. But pub operators must inform South Staffordshire District Council and Wombourne Parish Council at least a month in advance of any live music events taking place outside the premises, as well as letting nearby residents know.

Members of South Staffordshire District Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee made the direction after hearing from residents about previous noise concerns. The authority had not received any formal complaints, but issues had been raised directly with the pub.

The Battlefield Hill pub’s application for an extension to its opening hours, alcohol sales times and playing of music met with six objections from residents, as well as concerns being raised by the parish council. On Wednesday (October 28) the district council’s Licensing Sub-Committee met to consider the application.

One resident said: “As a single mother of two children I am very unhappy about the application to extend the playing of live or recorded music in the outside garden area on evenings and weekends. My children are 15 and 10 years old and this will clearly interfere with their bedtime and study routines.

“In addition to this, I am a midwife who works irregular 12-hour shifts throughout the week and at weekends, and what has been proposed will disrupt my sleep pattern. We have already experienced a certain amount of noise and disruption from the activities going on at the pub, with music being played outdoors at high volumes and shouting from customers, and if this increases, I am afraid that this will become intolerable for residents in the street and affect our quality of life.

“We are happy that the Red Lion is doing well and thriving as a business, but the quality of life of the residents of this formerly quiet and peaceful street should not be overlooked. Music played at a reasonable volume indoors is acceptable and important part of people’s enjoyment when socialising, however loud outdoor music continuing late into the night in a residential street is inappropriate.”

Another resident said: “We have only been at the property since April this year and moved to this area from a busy area of Wolverhampton, specifically for a quieter, village lifestyle away from the city. However, upon reading the request for a licence amendment, we are deeply concerned that our promise of a quiet village lifestyle will be in jeopardy.

“Numerous times through the height of summer, we have either struggled to get to sleep or have been woken due to the noise and rowdiness of pubgoers. The lack of understanding just how far noise travels when shouting on an otherwise quiet street, along with slamming of taxi doors etc is upsetting.

“The noise concerns from live music are not limited to the decibel of the music itself, but the uncontrollable factor of pubgoers singing along to said music, which creates an unpredictable noise level.”

The Red Lion dates back to 1703 and came under new management in November last year. There has been considerable investment in the venue, the panel heard, and it has increased in popularity, with community groups keen to hold their meetings there during the morning.

A number of events have taken place at the Red Lion between May and September, including a DJ set and bottomless brunches. Owner and director Louise Gair said: “It’s not something we want to do every week, they tend to be one-off events.

“Afternoon events tend to be 12pm to 6pm and evenings will be 6pm to 10pm. We cut off all music by 9.30pm at the latest in the beer garden and we have no intention of having live music after 11pm.

“We have a decibel reader in the beer garden which is read at 30 minute intervals; if it says 65 decibels, we turn the sound down. There were two occasions in the summer we were contacted by WhatsApp; we provided our contact details and let everybody know there would be building work, and we also have a landline, on which we received a call from one of the residents after a recent event.

“The majority of people who come in during the morning (from 11am on weekdays) are older people looking to buy tea, coffee or breakfast.

“We will be opening earlier for breakfast and we have a lot of community events. We have the footfall and desire, we have the venue, we just need to have the opening hours to meet that.

“We want the Red Lion to be a place where people can enjoy social occasions and community events. We recognise we need to be responsible to the local community.”