Wigan pub awarded festive early hours licence

The Honeysuckle on Swan Meadow Road, Poolstock, will be allowed to sell alcohol for an extra hour until 1am on December 27, and until 3am into New Year’s Day.

Greater Manchester Police and Wigan Council licensing officials had objected to the original temporary event notice (TEN) which sought to stay open until 5am on New Year’s Day. The force has been called out to the pub eight times in the last year to deal with incidents of drunkenness, noise and underage drinking.

The authority’s environmental health department also received three noise complaints between July and September.

But both authorities withdrew their objections after landlady Violeta Nanu agreed to scale back the proposed hours.

She told a licensing hearing: “I tried to make them understand that there wouldn’t be any more problems on the premises. I try my best to have a nice, clean and decent bar with no problems. The customers asked me to stay open more on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve because they wanted to celebrate together and that’s why I applied.”

The Honeysuckle is surrounded on three sides by homes, many occupied by elderly and disabled residents, says GMP.

In a letter to the council, GMP said allowing the TENs in their original forms would have a “detrimental impact” on preventing crime and public nuisance.

Along with the eight incidents recorded this year, police also received four separate intelligence reports of drug use and underage concerns at the pub.

Council environmental health officers had objected on the grounds of early hours noise.