A Crowborough pub’s bid to stay open through the night during two World Cup football games has been thrown out because of the effect it will have on neighbours.
The White Hart had applied to Wealden District Council’s (WDC) licensing to stay open until 4am on 3 July and until 5am on 6 July – for matches England might be playing in.
Because this year’s World Cup is being held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, match timings will be affected by time zones meaning games will be between five and eight hours behind UK time.
In a formal objection to the Temporary Event Notice (TEN) a WDC Environmental Health spokesman said: “The White Hart on the Green is situated in a residential area. The premises being open for licensable activities taking place during the early hours in the morning during the working week are likely to disturb local residents, who would be expected to be asleep.”
No representatives for the pub attended the licensing hearing, but instead sent written details of how the events would be conducted.
Chairman Cllr Glynn White said: “The sub-committee made its decision for the following reasons: no effective mitigation has been put forward that would ease noise disturbance within the local community, both at the events and transiting from the events.
And he added the pub’s documentation about how the late opening would be managed “was too generic and not site-specific”. It should have been more detailed about how noise would be managed to protect neighbours.
The panel had heard how licensing laws have been temporarily relaxed on a national level as a result of the World Cup. These changes are intended to make it easier for pubs to show most of the games England and Scotland may play in.
- Another TEN linked to a World Cup fixture was submitted by the pub. This was not objected to by Environmental Health and so will be allowed to take place. It will allow for extended opening hours during the England v Panama game due to take place on Saturday, June 27. The match is due to kick off at 10pm.