A city boozer will once again welcome drinkers and stay open later into the night after plans to revamp it were given the green light.

The Gardeners Arms in North Parade, Oxford, has been closed since the departure of its previous managers David and Jenny Rhymes, who retired last year after almost 30 years at the pub.

Greene King, which owns the North Oxford hostelry, had initially applied to Oxford City Council for permission to change the internal layout of the pub and serve alcohol and play live music until midnight during the week and 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.

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The application had sparked objections from some living near the pub, who feared antisocial behaviour as a result of the later opening times.

Members of the city council’s licensing sub-committee approved the revamp and backed revised plans to stay open to the standard 11pm on weekdays and midnight on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Two Oxford University professors, Lucy Cloover and Richard Katz, voiced their strong objections to the later opening time and spoke about their fears of future disruption to their sleep schedules.

Prof Cloover said: “I have a four-year-old boy who is going to be kept up to 12.30am every night.

“What it will do to our family is pretty overwhelming.”

Prof Cloover made three requests of the pub which were to keep to the current licensing hours, prevent public access to an alleyway and to forbid people drinking and smoking outside after 9pm.

The decision came after almost 20 nearby residents contacted the council to voice their concerns.

Maria Tudhope, who lives in North Parade, told the licensing and gambling acts sub-committee: “The incursion into our rest hours is particularly troublesome.”

The main concerns from the interested parties present were smokers lingering outside the pub and making noise in the alleyway.

The applicant admitted they had no legal jurisdiction over preventing customers from using the alley but would encourage customers to leave quietly.

Speaking on behalf of Greene King, Piers Warne told the committee members present, Katherine Miles, Lizzy Diggins and Barbara Coyne, the amended license would be a “benefit to the residents” and said the company had “a robust plan” in place to deal with antisocial behaviour.

Speaking about the later closing time, Prof Katz said: “It is a very terrifying prospect because the lack of sleep eats away at the family. It is not something we can afford to take lightly.

“We want, under no circumstances, customers to be allowed into the alleyway.”

The pub is currently looking for a tenant and Mr Warne said Greene King would invest £350,000 in the Gardeners Arms.

Oxford Mail:

Delivering the committee’s decision, councillor Lizzy Diggins said permission to extend the opening hours was given and their decision had taken account of “how much had changed since the original application.”

Miss Diggins added: “It will be important to build a positive relationship between the tenants and the strong local community.”

The conditions to this extension include no drinks allowed outside after 11pm, a publicly available telephone number and email address and the pub’s signage will need to specifically mention not making noise in the alleyway whilst leaving.

The committee also recommended the pub send letters to residents when late night events took place.