A BINGLEY bar has been forced to restrict the time its garden and terrace is open following complaints from neighbours.

Residents at River Walk, a sheltered housing complex at the back of the Potting Shed in Main Street, say the noise from people using the pub’s outdoor areas leaves them unable to sit outside their properties and being forced to switch bedrooms to sleep because of the noise.

Their complaints, nearly all made on Friday or Saturday evenings, relate to “excessive noise” coming from either music in the pub or large crowds in the beer garden, including when two Euro 2016 football matches featuring England were screened.

The Potting Shed’s turfed and its gravelled areas will now be cleared of guests by 9pm, and its ground and first floor terrace will be cleared of customers by 10pm.

This decision, proposed by environmental health officers, was made by the Bradford District Licensing Panel yesterday. A third condition was added, stating the bar’s windows and doors should be shut when it holds live entertainment.

Residents of River Walk said they were happy with the decision.

Ian Lester, 77, who has lived at the complex for two years, said: “This decision is as good as it is likely to get. We will have to wait and see how it goes.

“It’s a lovely place to live and it would be even better if we didn’t have this noise.”

Helen Milne, 81, who has lived in River Walk, for the last 12 years, said: “I was not surprised by the decision. The owners of the bar know about the strength of feeling about this issue.”

Jade Renner, operations manager for Potting Shed Trading Limited, who will oversee the bar, did not wish to speak following the decision. But during the licensing panel meeting she said she was willing to meet with residents to work on solutions to the noise problems.

She added the bar’s previous two designated premises supervisors have both been sacked for gross misconduct and a replacement, who will live on-site, has been appointed.

The bar has applied to Bradford Council for retrospective planning permission for its outdoor sheds and has looked at the possibility of applying for a 5.5-metre-high acoustic fence in a bid to block out the noise for neighbours.

West Yorkshire Police said it has recorded 25 complaints regarding noise between June last year and February 2017.

PC Susanne Dawson said: “The residents have had to endure months of noise from the garden.”

The pub was previously before the licensing panel in November 2015, it escaped sweeping restrictions, including closing the beer garden at 8pm daily by presenting a 650-name petition to the panel from customers.