A Ross-on-Wye bar and restaurant has been granted a late licence after claims of it being a source of late-night noise and rowdiness were denied.

Baftjar Zhuzhi of Wye Lounge, formerly Tweet Bar & Kitchen, had sought a licence to serve alcohol till 1.30am and play music till 2am at weekends and on holidays.

Earlier this month, responding to the consultation on the bid, nearby residents described how the “blasting music” and “reckless behaviour” has been impacting their lives. 

One claimant said: “The late night opening that we as a community are experiencing is making our lives a misery”. 

In two statements read out to Herefordshire Council’s licensing subcommittee on Tuesday, March 26, a Ms Patterson and a Ms Richards both said they and their children had recently been woken in the early hours by noise and rowdiness apparently from the bar, and questioned the need for a 2am music licence.

Representing the applicant, Chris Lucan said of the “family-oriented” bar, “a banging nightclub this is not”.

Mr Zhuzhi already ran the Avellino restaurant on the opposite side of the High Street until 2021, and “never had issues with neighbours or the police”, Mr Lucan said.

Nor had there been any complaints about the Wye Lounge venue, whose current application had prompted no official objections.

The bar now proposed “a comprehensive raft of inbuilt safeguards” agreed with police to allay the community’s fears, including over noise, vibration and age verification, he said.

He stressed that the source of the claimed the Saturday-night disturbances “was emphatically not Tweet Bar & Kitchen”.

“Bafti will not serve underage or rowdy customers, or pump out loud music,” he said.

He had earlier lodged four signed witness statements, including from Mr Zhuzhi himself and backed up by CCTV footage, saying the bar had closed around midnight on the nights concerned so could not have been the source of the later disturbance.

Following deliberation, committee chair Coun Polly Andrews said it “took seriously” the residents’ concerns.

But with the extra agreed conditions, it would be “appropriate” to grant the licence application, she said.