A FALMOUTH pub has been given permission to extend its opening hours which it says will help residents who say they are “fed up”.

The Kings Hotel in Church Street had applied to alter its licence so it could open for an extra half hour on Fridays and Saturdays until 3am.

Licensee Simon Fudge had originally sought to increase opening hours to 3.30am Thursday to Saturday and on Mondays until 2.30am. However after discussions with licensing and environmental health officers Mr Fudge agreed to not changing the opening times on Mondays and Thursdays and alter his application for Fridays and Saturdays.

At a meeting of Cornwall Council’s licensing act sub committee today Mr Fudge told councillors he was seeking parity with competing businesses as well as aiming to reduce disturbance on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mr Fudge said that when the pub currently stops serving alcohol at 2am and then closes at 2.30am many of his customers head to nearby venues Mangos and Club International which have later licences.

He said: “I am trying to help the area. We find that when we close at 2am the people inside don’t go home, they want another drink. It is the culture of the day.

“The local security company run the doors at premises down the road as well as ours. All the staff know each other.

“When we close at 2am there are 30 or 40 people who barrel down the road as they want another drink. It causes problems for them down the road. They don’t want that at 2.15 in the morning.”

Mr Fudge claimed that by having all the venues closing at the same time it would stop people going elsewhere and would encourage them to just go home.

He said problems with large numbers of people coming into the town at night were due to the university increasing its student numbers, pointing to an extra 500 this year.

Mr Fudge said: “Students like a party. Even if half this intake coming in were not party animals, antisocial or were bookworms, that is still an extra 250 people in the town. That is more than the capacity of my premises.

“Most of the venues in town meet capacity by 1am. The university is going to expand, over the next three years an extra 500 each year. They are young, they are people and they want to party.”

The pub operator said Falmouth was also attracting people from all over Cornwall because it is a “banging night out”.

He said Truro was “not a great night out” and said more people were coming to the town in the evening from Camborne and Redruth because people knew they could have a good time.

Mr Fudge said he had been a licensee in Falmouth for 10 years and had been running the Kings for the past 18 months – in that time he said he had not had any problems.

He said: “Not once have I had to call the police. I have never had to call the police for ten years.”

A representative from the police said they had agreed the altered terms of the licence with Mr Fudge and said they had no issues with the pub.

One resident objecting to the application told the committee she had lived in the area for 35 years.

She said: “The fact of the problem is that people leaving (the pub) do not just go home where there is nowhere more to go to drink. They stand around, they talk and shout.

“It is not violent but it is loud, uninhibited chatter and screaming.”

The objector said she felt that extending the opening hours of the pub would undermine a cumulative impact zone which is in place in Falmouth to limit the impact that licensed premises have on the area.

She said: “There is continuing problems with public order and nuisance in the main street.”

The resident also highlighted a recent incident where a video was placed online of someone dancing on top of a car in the main street of Falmouth. However the police representative stated that this was the owner of the car who was dealt with by the police.

The committee also heard that some people had moved away from the area because the disturbance from revellers was “unendurable”.

Another objector told the committee that she had had to clean up vomit outside her home on regular occasions.

She said: “My main concern is that I am tired or having to clear up vomit. I don’t want to hear shouting and noise at 3am.”

She said that one of the bedrooms in her home was no longer used because of noise in the early hours. “Sometimes we have to say ‘enough is enough’.”

The committee heard that the Kings had used a temporary events licence to test out longer opening hours for eight weeks on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and had not received a single complaint as a result.

Mr Fudge said he was trying to create a “safe environment” for people to enjoy themselves in.

He also highlighted that the pub had been voted the best in Cornwall on TripAdvisor and not only operated as a late-night venue but also as a family-friendly pub during the day serving food.

The committee gave approval for the pub to extend its opening hours on Fridays and Saturdays until 3am and to stop selling alcohol at 2.30am.

It also said the venue should remind customers to leave quietly and that signs should be put up reminding people to respect neighbours of the venue.