An application for a betting shop premises licence on Tenby's High Street has been granted by Pembrokeshire County Council's licensing sub-committee this week.

The application from Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Limited, to site a shop at the former Sun Inn premises in the town, was approved by members of the sub-committee at a meeting in County Hall, Haverfordwest, on Tuesday.

The committee said they didn't have a valid reason not to grant the application, despite objections put to them by Tenby Chamber of Trade and Tourism president Chris Osborne, who wrote to the licensing team raising concerns about the application, stating that he wished to "secure the long term vibrancy" of the main town centre's retailing areas.

"If there has to be another betting shop in the town, it should be located in one of the quieter streets outside the core retail areas," he wrote.

"We are very concerned about a betting shop use in this location during the high season pedestrianisation, when significant effort is made to create a café culture ambience.

"This ambience is fostered by taking the cafés and restaurants into the streets. Inevitably, users of these 'cafés in the street' include families with young children, whose experience of Tenby's town centre should not be threatened by gambling activities immediately adjacent," continued Mr. Osborne.

The applicant's solicitors Trethowans pointed out to the county council's licensing team in correspondence, that Mr. Osborne's representations raised planning issues though, rather than licensing issues.

Tenby Town Council said they had no objections to the application when it was discussed at a meeting last month, after they'd been asked to give their views on the matter by the owner of Serendipity Games Centre, Mr. Frank Booth, who had concerns that the Fixed Odds Betting Terminal machines that the 'gaming licence' would allow for were the "crack cocaine of the high street" and could prove detrimental to that area of the town.