The people behind a pub in Tilehurst have found out whether they’ve been allowed to sell food and alcohol later at night.
The Water Tower pub in Park Lane has undergone changes this year courtesy of brewery company Greene King.
It has shifted from a managed Flaming Grill family restaurant to managed by the brewery into a Hive pub franchise model the company launched in 2021.
This conversion involved outdoor changes such as the creation of a pergola, the reopening of a doorway and garden improvements.
An application was also submitted to Reading Borough Council requesting permission to sell alcohol until midnight and food and non-alcoholic drinks until 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Furthermore, the franchise asked for those same extended hours on Sundays during Bank Holidays.
But three women who live near the pub objected to the application, raising concerns about noise disturbance and late-night traffic, meaning a decision had to be made by the council’s licensing applications sub-committee.
Yvonne Hayward, a very close neighbour, attended the meeting in person.
In her objection, she said: “My property is very vulnerable to the noise generated by the people using the outdoor areas.
“Extending the hours potentially means the noise will continue later into the night when local neighbourhood noise has dropped.
“The pub is already failing to control noise levels.
“There are currently two active noise complaints regarding loud voices from this venue being investigated by the council.
“Extending the hours will only worsen an unresolved, ongoing issue.”
Ultimately, the application was granted as applied for in a decision made by a panel of three councillors during the meeting on Thursday, September 3.
Councillor Saadia Saadat (Conservative, Caversham Heights) said: “We had to discuss it as the neighbours raised a lot of issues, it is in a residential place, it was a bit noisy, and they wanted to extend the hours.
“Neither Thames Valley Police nor the council’s licensing officers objected to it.
“We did impose strict conditions on them, the conditions are very tough to control noise, they have to put up signs.”
One of the concerns raised was patrons causing a nuisance by parking in residential streets, after spaces in the pub car park went down from 30 to 26 following the upgrade project.
Cllr Saadat did sympathise with these fears, but she was told that the council’s highways department had not objected.
A licence application can be objected to on highway grounds only if those concerns directly connect to public safety or the prevention of public nuisance.
Cllr Saadat said: “The residents are afraid of people parking in their places, particularly in Boundary Close, which is next door.
“We were told people do leave in a staggered manner, which mitigates that.”
The decision to grant the licence was also made by councillors Paul Woodward (Labour, Church) and Amjad Tarar (Labour, Battle).
