Ludlow’s Bull Hotel has been granted a licence to stay open until 3am on a number of specified holidays and festivals.
The licence also allows the Bull to open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays and means the pub will need to take on nine extra staff.
Landlord Michael Ashton told the Journal: “We had people tell us ‘You’ll never get it, Ludlow will never have a late licence.’”
Occasions when the Bull is permitted to open until 3am include the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights of bank holidays, Fridays and Saturdays during the Ludlow Festival, the Food and Drink Festival, and the Medieval Fair, Christmas Eve and Maundy Thursday.
Mr Ashton said: “The only condition is that we inform the police and the licensing authority 21 days in advance.”
The licence application generated several objections on the grounds of noise and the Bull has adopted several conditions including fitting sound limiting devices to its speakers, inside and out.
These measure the power going to the speakers and if the volume is turned up beyond a specified level it either distorts the sound or cuts it off completely.
Mr Ashton said they had offered to have a minimum of five door staff on Fridays and Saturdays and outside events would finish at 11pm, except on New Year’s Eve.
He said: “This is specifically a response to objections about noise. It’s not a big problem for us, I don’t really want music going on all night outside.”
After representations from the police, the final entry time at the pub is to be put back from midnight to 11.30pm.
Mr Ashton said: “This was a condition we did not want, but the police requested it. At the moment, it doesn’t affect the other pubs in town, we will wait and see.”
He added there was a risk customers who wanted to drink later would leave other pubs earlier to get to the Bull before last entry.
