Decision set to be made on longer alcohol serving hours for Delaneys restaurant in Southsea

The proposal for Delaneys in Castle Road to serve alcohol until 10.30pm has divided opinion among some people living nearby, who warned it would exacerbate existing noise disturbance, and customers who said a later opening would be a 'huge' improvement.

Last year Portsmouth City Council approved a licence for the business until 9pm, but its owner Belinda Delaney said this timing 'is just not working'.

'We struggle to gain evening bookings for the restaurant and, indeed, the licensing hours of 9pm is acting as a deterrent to diners, leaving us empty and more attractive to people out for drinks,' she wrote in a letter to people living nearby.

She added that there was 'no reason' why Delaneys should be any different to fellow Castle Road restaurants Ning's and Giuseppe's and that they needed to be able to offer diners the longer hours.

Her position has been echoed in more than a dozen letters of support submitted to the council.

'As a regular evening customer - along with many other neighbours - at Delaneys, I see no problem with the local clientele, mostly middle age and senior customers,' Pete Codling said. 'I have not witnessed anything that would make me consider this an unreasonable request.'

He said the restaurant was 'a great asset' to the community and said longer hours may even deter anti-social behaviour in the area.

'It is unfortunately caught up in the local politic with a very small but vocal, and too often misled minority, hostile to any change,' he added.

But others have said there are already issues of noise coming from the business, citing regular complaints made over the past year.

Janet May, who lives above the restaurant and opposed the original licence, said there were frequent issues, particularly with its back door being left open.

She said: 'The fact that Belinda is fully aware that her business, which is now a licensed premises, is a nuisance to all the residents around her in the late hours, yet still wants to press on no matter who she inconveniences is very disappointing,'

Fellow neighbour Sarah McGuinness, one of more than half a dozen people to object to the proposal, said longer hours would lead to 'overbearing, constant noise'.

As a result of these concerns, the application to vary the licence will be made by members of a council licensing sub-committee on Wednesday.