A TOWN pub has had its licensing hours amended following noise complaints from the public - but the premises supervisor has been allowed to remain.

Police applied for a licensing review of The Horse and Jockey in Ross-on-Wye following numerous complaints about loud music coming from the pub.

Sergeant Duncan Reynolds asked Herefordshire Council's licensing committee to remove Michael Hudson as the designated premises supervisor as he had failed to promote the prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance licensing objectives.

The committee heard from Elizabeth Laughland, principal environmental health officer for Herefordshire Council, that the environmental protection team had received nine complaints concerning noisy events from three separate households and nine referrals from the police since March 2016.

On July 7, environmental health officers heard the music which was causing a statutory noise nuisance from a neighbouring property and on July 11 Mr Hudson and the premises licence holder, NewRiver Retail, were served with noise abatement notices.

The premises licence holder’s solicitor, David Crank, said this was a slow burn review in connection with noise nuisance complaints.

Mr Crank said The Horse and Jockey had been in operation as a pub for 200 years and was an asset of community value.

He said since July there had been mediation meetings and revised conditions agreed with the police, environmental health and trading standards.

The premises licence holder was supportive of Mr Hudson remaining as the DPS and that he had now gained his qualifications to be a personal licence holder.

The premises had been operating to the new conditions for the last few weeks and there had been no complaints, he said.

Mr Hudson acknowledged that his actions had been inappropriate and that he was willing to show that he could operate to the new conditions.

The committee agreed to reduce the pub's opening hours by an hour on a Thursday night to 11pm, and the pub must close 30 minutes earlier on a Friday and Saturday at midnight, and to also slightly reduce the hours of licensable activity. There are also numerous conditions Mr Hudson must abide by.

The committee decided to keep Mr Hudson as designated premises supervisor, having considered the commitment of the premises licence holder to work with Mr Hudson to ensure compliance with the revised conditions.