A NEW Dorchester bar had to call off its opening night at the last minute.

Ellen and Mark Keenan had been due to open The Eclipse in Trinity Street last night but were forced to call it off after a noise limiter failed to arrive in time.

Mrs Keenan said that opening without the noise limiter would have put the bar in breach of its licence so they had no option but to take the difficult step of calling it off.

She confirmed the decision after a visit from environmental health officers.

Mrs Keenan said: “It’s not been delivered in time. If we had opened without it we would have been in breach of our licence and we didn’t want to be doing that.”

The Eclipse was due to open in premises vacated when The Apple Tree bar shut its doors before Christmas last year.

Mrs Keenan said they were still hoping to open as soon as possible after the noise limiter arrived and was in place. She said: “It looks very nice inside and it’s totally different from what it was.”