People power: licence for new Wigan pub refused amid neighbour protests

Julie Duffy had applied to open The Colliery on Downall Green Road, Bryn, in a building that was formerly an optician’s practice.

Neighbours turned up at Wigan’s Licensing Sub-Committee on Monday February 26 to voice strong objections to the plan.

Jimmy Smith, 73, who has lived in the area for 53 years, said that a pub in the heart of a residential area was “inappropriate” and would be “a disaster” for the area.

Ms Duffy told the sub-committee that she ran a successful bar in the centre of Asthon called The Cotton Mill and there had been “no trouble” there.

“I have been approached by quite few people asking us to open one like it in Bryn,” she said.

“They feel that Bryn needs somewhere a little bit up market. We are not proposing to open a riotous bar.”

She said that the plan was also to put on musical acts, but not bands. Ms Duffy said it would be somewhere that members of the public could go and initially there would only be a cafe where mums could drop by for a coffee and a chat after dropping their children off at school.

“We don’t want to cause any problems,” she said. “We want to work with the community and maybe have a book club with coffee and cake.”

But Mr Smith asked her: “Can you put your hand on your heart and tell me, as a resident who has lived there for 53 years, that we are not going to have any problems?”

Ms Duffy replied: “I can’t make such a promise, but I will do my utmost.”

Mr Smith added: “It would be inappropriate to have such an establishment so close to residential houses. It would be a disaster for the area.”

Another resident, Julie Gould, raised questions about live music acts creating a disturbance loading their PA equipment into vehicles after performing in the pub.

“I am a singer myself,” she said. “And I run an entertainment agency. I know what happens at the end of a live gig.”

Ms Gould also voiced concerns about people potentially taking their drinks outside at the front of the building where a smoking area would also be. She said that this raised fears of further disturbance for residents on the narrow road.

“There are also a lot of takeaways in the area,” she continued. “There will be people buying food and leaving their cartons around. There will be much more litter in the area.”

She added that she did not believe that people running the pub could “police” customers not to take their drinks outside.

Following a brief adjournment, the chair of the sub-committee, Coun Paul Kenny said: “We are refusing the application on the grounds of the prevention of public nuisance.”