A town centre bar and nightclub will learn this week whether it will be able to open until 4am every day.

Knockalla Ltd, the company which owns the Groves Company Inn in Fleet Street has applied for a new licence to be able to serve drinks and play live or recorded music from 9am to 4am every day.

That would extend its normal hours of operation by three hours from 1am between Sunday and Thursday and two hours from 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

But the bar already has extensions written into its licence for extended hours on several days.

These extensions include Christmas and Boxing Day, St Patrick’s Day, St George’s Day, Maundy Thursday, the Sundays before Bank Holiday Mondays, an all-night extension on New Year’s Eve, and an hour’s extension on the first day of summertime.

Swindon Advertiser:

If Swindon Borough Council's three-councillor licensing panel, it will supersede all those occasional extensions, although there will be a blanket extension of one hour on Bank Holidays.

But not everyone is entirely happy with the proposal, which will meet be considered on Thursday.

Although environmental health officers, the police and other statutory bodies did not object to the proposals, three residents in flats at Linden Court which face the club’s rear have written to the panel to express opposition.

One wrote: “In the current situation loud music is played until 2 am especially on weekends, which causes a lot of trouble.

“I have a seven-year-old schoolchild and he is also not able to sleep due to loud noises. Extending this time to 4:00 AM everyday will make the situation for us further difficult to live. I apprehend health-related issues for my child due to lack of sleep.”

Another wrote: “We have been subject to excessive noise from the premises, particularly when they were the Groves Company Inn. If the new application is granted, I foresee the noise levels increasing, and given the times outlined in the application, sleep and the ability to have windows open in my apartment will prove to be almost impossible.”

A third said: “It is already unbearable and residents are unable to sleep because of loud music and commotion.”

The licensing panel will meet at 10.30am on Thursday at the civic offices in Euclid Street. A decision would usually be made that day.