PLANS to extend the opening hours of a popular pub in Nantwich have been met with opposition from nearby residents.

The Malbank Hotel in Beam Street has applied to Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council to extend its hours on Friday and Saturday night from 12am to 1am.

But residents who live on Beam Street have objected stating that the extension will only cause further disturbance to them.

Resident Steven Cort, along with support from two other neighbours, has already voiced opposition to the council.

Mr Cort said: "I live and try to sleep in a first floor flat on the opposite side of the road and about 100ft away from the Malbank Hotel.

"The present entertainment hours are from my point of view more than a nuisance and deprive me of rest and sleep, starting at about 8 to 9pm on Thursday nights right through to Sunday night.

"It is not only the noise of the music which starts early in the evening but the noise customers make when they are leaving the premises and getting into taxis up to an hour after the music has stopped.

"The proposed extension will take this disturbance well into the morning."

Richard Plant the pub's manager said: "I can't see how it is going to cause a problem.

"The people causing a noise are not from the pub, they are people on their way to nightclubs and pizza parlours nearby.

"We are very strict with the people we let in and we are fully co-operative with the PubWatch scheme."

The council's regulatory committee will make its decision at a meeting on September 1.