By Don Mort, local democracy reporter
A new cafe and bar has been granted an alcohol licence after agreeing to reduced serving hours.
Bee Futures Ltd faced objections to its application to serve drinks at Hive, its planned venue in the former Nawaab Khan restaurant on New Road Side in Horsforth.
People living nearby feared noise and anti-social behaviour if the premises was allowed midnight last orders at weekends and 11pm on weekdays.
Leeds City Council granted a premises licence after the hours were reduced to 10pm, Sunday-Wednesday and 11pm Thursday to Saturday.
Chris Rees-Gay, representing the venue, told councillors: “We are part of the community. We have listened and reduced our hours accordingly.”
Eleven letters of objection were received by the council, along with ten comments in support of the licence application.
Miriam Browne, who lives nearby, said noise from the bar would disturb children.
She told the licensing sub-committee: “They have bedrooms that face onto the premises. It absolutely will cause increased noise. It will cause increased disturbance.
“We are families and we have to get up and go to work every day.”
Horsforth Labour councillor Emmie Bromley also spoke in support of nearby householders and called for a further reduction of serving hours.
She said: “I would ideally like to see that even more restricted.”
Councillors granted the premises licence, subject to conditions including the reduced hours and no loud music.
Planning application
As reported by WLD in December, a separate planning application for a change of use of the venue, has also been submitted to the council for consideration.
A planning statement said Hive would operate as a cafe during the day and a bar in the afternoon and evening. The applicant has secured a five-year lease on the building and was planning to invest £140,000.
The consultation period for the plans ended on Monday and council planning officers are currently considering the applications. The change of use plans can be viewed here. Plans for new signs can be found here.
Its 20 yards from the pub ..what a joke