A NEW Swanage waterfront bar-restaurant has been granted the licensing hours it wants – despite fears about disturbance for nearby residents.

Smoke on the Water, which will specialise in shared smokery foods, is a family-run business due to open shortly in a new building overlooking the town’s pier.

Dorset Council’s licensing committee has agreed to a premises licence which will allow on and off sales from 9am until 11pm daily with space at the premises for 35-40 people inside and another 40 on an outside terrace.

Mr Jordan Tilman, who will run the business with other family members, said despite the 9am-11pm request it was unlikely the bar and restaurant would want to use all the hours.

He also said there were no plans for regular music sessions and any indoor music would be background only.

The family currently run Crab Apple Catering which they intend to continue in conjunction with the new premises.

Nearby resident Georgina Codd travelled to Dorchester for the licensing hearing telling councillors on the panel that she feared the new business would have a negative impact on those living nearby.

She said there were other businesses in the area offering food and drink but all closed up to seven hours earlier than Smoke on the Water plans to do, and none played music, with most of the premises closing completely in the winter.

She said that within a few yards was a new sanctuary garden for a cancer charity which, she feared, could have its intention of being a place of quiet reflection, disturbed by the licensing hours being requested.

She said it was also close to Peverell Point and the downs and a small beach used by local people throughout the year.

Ms Codd said other reservations included people using the terrace area being able to smoke and the potential risk of additional litter, including broken glass, if people were allowed to buy drinks on the premises and take them away.

“The council could be giving the applicant carte blanche to allow smoking, drinking and the playing of intrusive music outside the premises for up to 14 hours every day, beginning at 9am to 11pm, in a part of town which is not only principally recreational but residential and that there is a risk in damaging the character of the area as it stands now,” she told the panel.

Mr Tilman said the business would do all it could to be good neighbours, and as a local family, had a vested interest in doing so.

He said the business, which he described as a smokehouse and restaurant with a separate bar, would be specialising in American-style meats shared between a group of diners, with local beers and ciders on offer.

“Having lived in Swanage my whole life I obviously love the place and wouldn’t want to ruin it at all … we don’t have any plans to play outside music, but it’s something we might want in the future for the blues and jazz festivals, so that we can support local acts – mainly acoustic. We don’t have any speakers going outside. We are not a music venue, it will just be background music and it won’t be loud because we want people to talk comfortably,” said Mr Tilman.

Among the conditions of the licence is that CCTV will have to be installed, adequate arrangements will have to be made for litter and that a telephone number for the manager be made available at all times the business is open.