A “problem” pub that has seen years of complaints over noise has had its licence changed to prevent the new landlord from being prosecuted.
The Portcullis Hotel in Chipping Sodbury opened under new management in 2018 after a £125,000 refurbishment.
The family-run pub on Horse Street had been a “problem address” for South Gloucestershire Council, provoking repeated complaints about noise over a number of years.
But the situation has improved under new landlord Edward Febry, with only a handful of complaints in the past year, a licensing committee heard yesterday (February 4).
Even so, Mr Febry remained at risk of prosecution because of a condition on the licence preventing any music from going above a “background level”.
On the advice of a licensing officer, he applied to have the condition removed so the pub could continue to hold “discos” without breaching the condition.
The officer said: “We got to a point where we had to prosecute or change the condition.
“I’m not worried about noise,” she told the committee.
No residents objected to the application, which also sought to extend the pub’s opening hours.
Mr Febry said the Portcullis Hotel had been “mismanaged for years and years and years" but he wanted to turn it into a “nice family pub”.
He said the pub had stopped hosting live bands and now had a resident DJ with one speaker.
The committee agreed to remove the condition for music from the licence, but added a number of restrictions including one that “a noise-limiting device” must be used “where required to prevent unreasonable disturbance to occupiers in the vicinity”.
Members also agreed the pub can stay open until 2am seven days a week.
Music must stop playing by 10.30pm on Sundays, midnight on Mondays through Wednesdays, and 1.30am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The bar must close at 1.30am every day of the week, except for paying guests at the hotel who will be able to buy alcohol 24/7.
Mr Febry, who originally applied to stay open until 3am, seven days a week, said: “We need the weekend trade because that is vital to keeping it [the hotel] open.”
Mr Febry is a director of John and Rita Leisure Ltd, which owns both the Portcullis Hotel and the Royal Oak pub in Chipping Sodbury.
He is the grandson of John and Rita Hinder, whose descendants have run both pubs at various times over their history.
