A Penarth pub that residents complained about has had its application to open and sell alcohol for longer granted.
The Golden Lion on the corner of Glebe Street and King Street originally had a licence in place to sell alcohol between 10am and 11pm from Monday to Thursday, and from 10am to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Its updated licence means it will be able to start selling alcohol from 8am to midnight throughout the week, but the pub landlord said this will only be implemented for certain occasions during the year.
The Golden Lion landlord, Paul Harper, said at the meeting: “This is a very rare occurrence…we are talking about a Lions Test every four years or maybe one spring for the rugby."
“I have been asked to open early in the last 12 months twice, so this is not an every day occurrence and it won’t be happening all of the time.”
Mr Harper said the reasoning behind updating the licence in this way was to save time on having to apply for temporary event notices whenever the pub wanted to open early for a specific occasion, like a major sporting event.
Residents on King Street claimed some pub-goers had urinated on their homes and were responsible for “atrocious” behaviour.
The owner of The Golden Lion, Jon Bassett, said the pub is a much-loved establishment and that they will continue to listen to residents.
Mr Harper has also urged residents to contact him directly, either over the phone or in person, if they have any future concerns.
One resident, Pat Groves, who lives next door to the pub said “every conversation can be heard” when customers are leaving the premises late at night, and another, Natasha Jones, said the noise can also be an issue for her.
Ms Jones, who has an 18-month-old daughter, said: “When the premises is closed, you can still hear people talking outside."
“Those people are talking essentially right outside our bedroom windows. This can go on until the early hours of the morning. It does feel sometimes like we are not getting much of a break.”
She later added: “I have had people…knocking doors, knocking windows. I have had people urinating against the side of the property…they have come out of the pub and have been trying to open beer bottles on my window sill.”
Other complaints made at the meeting included smokers taking up too much space on the pavement at the front of The Golden Lion, empty beer barrels being left on the street and litter from cigarette butts being dropped on the floor outside.
Mr Harper said a number of the issues that residents complained about have been addressed.
He said the bins are kept in the pub’s garden and that empty barrels only come out on bin collection days.
There are now ash trays outside and Mr Harper added that staff sweep the smoking area regularly.
The pub’s owner, Mr Bassett, said: “We’re pleased that the extended hours were granted."
“The Golden Lion is a great, little, multiple award-winning pub. To the best of our knowledge, Paul Harper is the longest serving landlord in Penarth by over a decade and JW Bassett Pubs is the longest standing custodian of a public house in the town as well."
“My mother lived in Salop Street just steps away until she sadly passed away in 2011 and I lived there until I was 19 years old, so the pub is close to my heart."
“It's well documented that trading for all of hospitality is challenging at present and it’s no different here. The pub continues to be a significant investment for the company employing up to ten people and thus contributing to various supply chains."
“As upset as we were with some things said at the hearing and in the press release, we will continue to listen to residents and as Paul stated at the hearing he will always be available to deal with any issues."
“As part of the decision-making process, it was noted that there had been no noted complaints to the authorities and various feedback from locals, customers and the press release comments has proved the The Golden Lion is a much-loved establishment in my home town, Penarth.”
The council said it didn’t receive any representations from any of the responsible public authorities about the licensing application.
South Wales Police did make a representation, but this was withdrawn after the applicant agreed on a set of conditions that have been attached to the updated licence.
These include maintaining a CCTV system, operating a Challenge 25 policy, installing signs advising customers to leave the premises quietly, maintaining an incident log and having no person under the age of 18 on the premises after 9pm.
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