THE OWNERS of a Dorchester bar say they hope to reassure residents who have voiced objections to their plans for late night opening.

An application has been submitted by Four D, which was opened by Alex and Nikki Ford in Trinity Street last December, to keep its doors open until 4am on Friday and Saturday nights.

The submission will be considered at a meeting of West Dorset District Council’s licensing sub-committee on Friday, April 11.

Members of the committee will also consider a dozen representations that have been submitted by concerned local residents.

One letter states: “As residents living in the vicinity of Trinity Street we have had experience of unacceptable levels of noise and disturbance caused by inebriated behaviour that has occurred when similar premises have been vacated.”

Another says: “I am dismayed to think of the anti-social behaviour that these late hours will encourage in the neighbourhood.”

The bar, which currently has permission to stay open till 1am at weekends, has opened until 4am on occasions during the winter under a temporary events licence but the residents feel problems with noise will be exacerbated in the summer when windows are open and more people hang around outside the premises.

Another letter states: “We do not really see the need to stay open until 4am as Dorchester is not exactly a ‘party destination’.

“Nowhere else in Dorchester has such a late licence, so it would attract everyone who wants to continue drinking until the early hours.”

Nikki said that she understood that local residents had concerns, but she and Alex were keen to use the meeting to allay some of their fears.

She said: “We are going to go there and give our reasons as to why we think Dorchester deserves a bit of nightlife and we hope the residents can see we are just trying to make a business.

“We are not there to attract drunkards or cause trouble, we are just trying to give Dorchester a bit of nightlife.”

The application states that during the late night openings door staff will be at Four D from 10pm and Nikki said they would be helping to make sure people entering or leaving the premises respect their neighbours.

She said: “We are trying to eliminate trouble, not trying to make it.”

The licensing sub-committee will have the power to grant the application as submitted, grant it with conditions or refuse the application.