COUNCILLORS have refused permission for a new pub in Weymouth town centre - while backing a 3am licence for another just yards away.

Members of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's planning committee turned down a scheme to turn the former Courts furniture shop into a new pub yesterday morning.

Fellow councillors on the authority's licensing committee in the afternoon then gave the green light for the Swan Inn - just yards down the road in St Thomas Street - to serve alcohol from 6am to 3am every day.

The moves came amid concerns over rising drink-fuelled trouble in Weymouth and the resort gaining a notorious reputation for its nightlife.

Opponents of the application for the new pub in the former Courts shop - which has entrances in St Thomas and St Mary streets - claimed that the town centre already had enough pubs.

They feared that it would lead to an increase in noise and antisocial behaviour, while planning officers said it clashed with local plan policies.

They also said it would lead to the loss of a large retail site and would hit the character of St Mary Street and the conservation area.

Coun John Birtwistle said: "We can't lose the possibility that a big shop might be attracted to the site and we can't see the character of St Mary Street changed."

He said the scheme should be refused and colleagues unanimously supported him on grounds of policy breach, the threat to the character of St Mary Street and the conservation area and concerns that ventilation work could not be satisfactorily fitted into the building.

The refusal came on the same day as members of the licensing committee agreed that JD Wetherspoon's Swan Inn in St Thomas Street can serve alcohol for 21 hours a day between 6am and 3am.

Licensing chairman, Coun Michael Goodman, said: "We have come to the conclusion that we are content to grant the proposed variation subject to the mandatory conditions associated with the sale of alcohol."

Pub-goers will not be allowed into the rear garden after 11pm during the week or midnight at weekends and bank holidays under the new licence.

Coun Goodman added: "This is to make sure that during the working week from Sunday to Thursday there is no possibility of disturbance to residents, especially from smokers."

No objections to the longer drinking hours were made by residents or police.

But the pub cannot open later than its current closing time of 11.30pm until a planning issue has been resolved.

The committee heard that a condition of planning permission for the Swan Inn, granted in 1998, states the premises can only open to customers between 9am and 11.30pm.

This provision was set down 'in the interests of the amenities of adjoining and nearby residential properties', according to the planning document.

Solicitor for JD Wetherspoon plc Craig Baylis said the company now intended to try and overturn the condition.