Co-owner says interest in bringing live gigs back to the pier is coming '˜thick and fast'

Tommy Ware Jnr said yesterday that as the pier looks to secure a new premises licence, the owners are being flooded by interest as they seek to return the structure to its glory years of hosting live music.

However, fears have been expressed that the proposed late-night sale of alcohol and live music will become a nuisance to neighbours.

An anonymous resident said: ‘It used to be absolute bedlam here in the olden days. Neighbours would go out the night after and clean up excrement off the street. It was horrendous at times.’

Under the owner’s licensing application, alcohol would be sold from Monday to Saturday from 11am until 2am and from midday to 12.30am on Sundays.

Entertainment would also be licensed from 11am to 2am from Monday to Thursday, 11am to 3am on Fridays and Saturdays and from midday to 12.30am on Sundays.

Mr Ware Jnr said: ‘I do not really see the big deal about it. We are just asking for the same licence that was there before. It will not be a crazy nightclub.’

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, leader of the Portsmouth Liberal Democrats said: ‘The pier has to be run as a business for it to succeed.

‘Without a licence, it will not be able to be run as a business and it will not be the thriving place that people want it to be.

Artists to have played the pier over the years include David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Genesis and the Stone Roses.