A gastro pub near Ripon has been granted an extension to its licensing hours until midnight.

The Sawley Arms, which has eight bedrooms and is popular with diners, applied for an extension until 1am, seven days a week.

But Harrogate Borough Council’s licensing committee decided on Friday that alcohol could only be served until midnight.

Steve Manton, owner of the Sawley Arms, told the committee he had spent more than £1 million refurbishing the pub since he bought it 11 years ago as a retirement project.

Mr Manton, who previously ran several businesses in the Harrogate area, said the pub’s main activity was food.

“It’s a destination pub. The traditional boozer has disappeared.”

Customers, he said, “like to linger and that’s why we have put in the extension until 1am”.

Mr Manton addresses the meeting.

He added:

“That doesn’t mean we will stay open until 1am every night. Last night we closed at 9.30pm.”

Mr Manton, who lives on the Isle of Man, described the venue as “a summer pub”, adding there was “very, very little activity in winter and we close our gardens”.

He said besides diners, the pub attracted weekend walkers, visitors to Fountains Abbey and guests from nearby Grantley Hall, the opening of which he described as “a lifeline”.

Before the meeting, David Taylor, clerk to Grantley and Sawley Parish Council, had submitted an objection to the proposal raising “grave concerns”.  He said:

“The residents of the village are very likely to be disturbed by vehicles leaving the site at times that would extend beyond 1am.

“Although 1am is the requested extended time, there would be ‘drinking up time’ and staff leaving the premises, therefore it would be nearer to 2am when the last cars leave the site.”

Wan Malachi, a licensing enforcement officer at the council told the committee it had received no complaints about the venue.

Ed Darling, the Conservative councillor who chairs the licensing committee, told Mr Manton it had granted the extension on condition that it applied until midnight, seven days a week, rather than the 1am requested. Cllr Darling added:

“There is a right of appeal against this decision to Harrogate Magistrates Court within 21 days of receipt of the decision notice.”

An application to extend drinking hours at the Sawley Arms near Ripon will be decided by the council next week.

The gastro pub has applied for a licence for late-night drinking until 1am, seven days a week.

As part of the application, the pub said it will ensure accompanied children are seated away from other guests, and that staff will be on site at all times. It also said there are 16 CCTV cameras recording constantly in order to prevent crime and disorder.

The application had originally requested the licence for both the bar and the gardens, but environmental health officer Gemma Demaline said that was likely to cause disturbance to nearby residents in Sawley.

Responding for the Sawley Arms, Steve Harryman said:

“This will be predominantly to allow us to serve our guests for a bit longer.

“We are a quiet country pub with the gardens only usable in the summer months and our current licence allows us to use them up until 11pm.

“No noise complaints in our nine-year trading period.”

Mr Harryman then offered to keep the licence for the gardens until 11pm and extend the hours inside only. He said staff would ask guests to move inside at 11pm and signs would be put up asking them to leave the pub “quickly and quietly”.

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He added:

“This is most likely to be hotel guests walking to the rear of the pub to their hotel rooms, no traffic movements.

“We also have night porters on site to ensure noise levels are kept to a minimum, for the benefit of our neighbours and our other hotel guests.”

An objection to the proposal was submitted by David Taylor, clerk to Grantley and Sawley Parish Council, saying the council had “grave concerns”. He said:

“The residents of the village are very likely to be disturbed by vehicles leaving the site at times that would extend beyond 1am.

“Although 1am is the requested extended time, there would be ‘drinking up time’ and staff leaving the premises, therefore it would be nearer to 2am when the last cars leave the site.

“this would present a very real disturbance to the many residents leaving in close proximity to the Sawley Arms.”

The application will be considered by Harrogate Borough Council’s licensing committee next Friday, October 28.