An entertainments venue in Tenby has had a number of conditions imposed on it following a review of the premises' licence at a hearing this week.

An application for a review of the De Valence Pavilion in Upper Frog Street was determined by Pembrokeshire County Council's licensing sub-committee on Tuesday, after they had received a request to look at the venue's licence from Mr. Graham Fry, who runs the Royal Lion Hotel opposite, and Mr. Ben Fecci, who resides in a flat above the adjacent property.

Both complainants had voiced their concerns over noise disturbance issues and anti-social behaviour relating to the venue, stating that matters had come to a head on the night of Saturday, February 20, when youngsters attending an event got out of hand.

At the hearing, Mr. Fry admitted that 80 per cent of the entertainment provided at the De Valence was great value and of benefit to the community, but he had issues with the events that were held there aimed at youngsters.

"It seems that these events are not just a case of getting the local kids off the streets of Tenby, but unfortunately they attract the yobbos of Pembrokeshire, who descend on the town and, those who can't get into the venue, simply wander the streets of the town drunk, causing anti-social behaviour. This kind of event is not conducive to Tenby," he claimed.

As well as witnessing the anti-social behaviour, which Mr. Fry said stemmed from large volumes of youngsters spilling out onto the streets during and after events, he alleged that he had also witnessed drug-related dealing outside the premises on this occasion, as well as having to put up with youngsters smoking, swearing and vomiting in the vicinity.

On the same night, Mr. Fecci said that the noise coming from the venue itself and youngsters outside on the street became so unbearable that he was forced to leave his home, along with his partner and two children, to go and stay with his parents.

He said that he was also subjected to abuse from youngsters blocking his doorway when he tried to leave his premises, while he was often also given abuse from some parties who worked at events at the De Valence who were causing noise disturbance while loading equipment onto vehicles in the early hours of the morning.

Police licensing officer Tony Davies said that the police may have been responsible for long queues outside the venue early on during the night of February 20, as they had been carrying out an 'iron scan' operation on the door to check for drugs.

He said that the venue had been working in partnership with the local neighbourhood policing team in putting on events to give youngsters somewhere to go and something to do of an evening, but he felt that any anti-social behaviour problems often came from those caught drinking under age who had got their hands on alcohol by other means and not at the venue itself.

"It really shocks me that often the parents are responsible for giving the booze to the kids - here's a six pack Johnny, have a good night," he remarked.

The De Valence Trust's director, Victoria Smathers, explained that there had been a heavy police presence at the event until around 2 am and that the events aimed at the youngsters were not run by the De Valence team itself, but outside promoters who hired the venue around six or seven times a year.

The county council's pollution control team recommended to the licensing sub-committee that a number of conditions be put on the De Valence premises licence to address the main issues that had been causing the problems for the complainants.

The conditions included - ensuring doors and windows of the venue remained closed during the licensed activities; a licensed door supervisor be on the entrance and exit to supervise queues, and instruct that patrons enter and exit quietly and to check that they have no drinks on them; submitting a procedure for dealing with persistent rowdy/noisy behaviour from customers to reduce anti-social behaviour; putting signs up and introducing more bins to prevent litter dropping; and holding a complaints book on the premises.

A further condition to prevent the loading and unloading of equipment to and from the premises after 11 pm on any day, was altered to 1.30 am for live music events and midnight for all other events, after Mrs. Smathers pointed out that many events didn't finish until gone 11 pm and often bands performing at the venue needed to load equipment so that they could move on to another destination the same night.

The licensing sub-committee agreed that the recommended conditions be added to the venue's premises licence.