A LABOUR club has been allowed to extend its opening hours over the May Day Bank Holiday, despite objection from an environmental health officer.
The event at the Horden Labour Club on Sunderland Road, Horden, Peterlee was approved after the owner mounted a firm defence to councillors.
Licensee Stewart MacDonald said: "My licence is the most important thing I have. I certainly wouldn't want to put that in any jeopardy.
"I've invested more in the club than I paid to purchase the club, and I've continued to do that, and I've had professionals who have worked in the nightclub industry for 40 years.
"I'm trying to do everything I possibly can.
"In the two years I've owned the club we've had three police calls. That's all been from us, from members of staff.
"Considering we're an ex-working man's club in a pretty run-down part of the community, I don't think we're doing too bad.
"If we're going to level up County Durham, we have to invest in places like Horden, Peterlee, places like us and encourage us to keep people local."
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He applied for a temporary event notice (TEN) to hold a DJ club night on Sunday, May 1, with alcohol, entertainment and refreshments extended until 2am on Bank Holiday Monday, May 2, for up to 180 people upstairs at the club.
He is already licensed to sell alcohol between until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, but otherwise until 12.30am.
John Hayes, from Durham County Council's environmental health department, objected on the grounds of preventing public nuisance.
He told the council's licensing committee: "It's mainly related to the cumulative impact.
"The premises already has a licence until 2.00 on Friday and Saturday. To have three nights in a row would be a bit unreasonable for those living across the road."
He said he had not received any complaints from residents about late-night opening himself, adding: "The role of the responsible authority is to look at the prevention of public nuisance.
"We don't have to wait for a complaint to come in."
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In response, Mr MacDonald said: "I find his objections unfounded, because since we got our 2.00 licence we've had no problems, in fact much to the contrary.
"I understand what you're saying about the prevention of nuisance, but there's nothing really to prevent because so far we haven't had any nuisance. We haven't had any complaints."
He said there had been one fight inside the club, after which they barred three people for life, put them on Pubwatch for five years and "named and shamed them on social media".
He added they had strict anti-drugs and anti-violence policies and planned to employ two more door supervisors at the one-off event.
"We're not afraid to do things if we have problems," he added.
He said they wanted a late-night venue where people could "spend a good night safely without being a nuisance.
"And I believe we're doing it.
"We work closely with the community. We have meetings with the police and the community where everybody who lives locally can come."
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He said without the temporary extension, a lack of taxis would lead to youngsters standing outside waiting to "party on".
He said: "If we close at 12.30, they can't get a taxi and they stand outside and that creates a potential problem to the local residents.
"If we close at 2.00 what you find is naturally people start to leave from around about midnight, so when it comes to 1.30, 2.00, you haven't got that push of people at the door at once.
"I don't think we're a nuisance to anybody, and if we do become a nuisance we'll be the first to act on it."
Giving the committee's decision, Councillor Jan Blakey said: "We're debated this long and hard and we've decided to grant the application.
"You understand that if anything goes wrong you will be back in front of us."
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