A dispute between a Highcliffe pub and residents has resulted in a petition being submitted to the council calling for the hostelry’s licence to be reviewed following complaints about noise.

People living close to The Galleon pub in Lymington Road, Highcliffe, have submitted a petition to Christchurch Borough Council calling for the chairman of the licensing committee to review the licence for the popular watering hole.

The residents say the petition is due to the “unreasonable disturbance and nuisance caused to local residents late in the evening and in the early hours of the morning and also on Sunday afternoons”.

One resident added: “All we are asking for is a compromise to get the noise level down. It’s a shame it has come to this.”

But Becky Kilford, owner and licensee of the pub, said she was disappointed the residents hadn’t come to her first.

“I have worked incredibly hard to make this pub into a family friendly, pleasant and popular place to come and to turn it around from what it was before, so the news is devastating.

“I know the pub historically has had a problem with noise and so we monitor this every weekend.

“Our licence is until midnight but we only open until then on Friday and Saturday nights and never until the early hours.

“We also have signs in and around the pub asking our customers to be respectful and considerate to our neighbours.

“Only on one occasion had the residents complained about the noise of children playing in the garden, which was on Sunday afternoon so it is difficult to have a lot of sympathy with them, especially when they didn’t come to me about it.

“We could have worked with them to sort this out, but sadly it is a bit more serious now.”