A Tenby councillor expressed her amazement this week over objections to an application to vary the licence for the town's De Valence Pavilion. The application, which came before a meeting of the county council's licensing sub-committee at County Hall, on Tuesday, was to change the current Saturday closing hours from 11.45 pm to 1 am. Objections to the variation were received from a number of local residents, including county councillor Michael Williams, who thought that the extended opening hours would "exasperate the nuisance of noise emanating from the premises." However, speaking at the meeting, one of the pavilion's licensees, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, claimed she was "amazed" that the application had met with objections. "Since the trust took over the running of the De Valence in April 2004, we have received no complaints whatsoever from any local residents concerning any of the events that have been held at our premises," she said. "The later licence is a requirement to stage the events we may run on a Saturday night, such as weddings, dinners or banquets. "Each event held has always been adequately policed by ourselves and the local police force to ensure there is no noise disturbance when people are leaving the building." The licensing committee approved the application, stating that the new closing hours would bring the establishment in line with other premises in the vicinity which already had a licence until 1 am.
