RIVAL owners of Bournemouth town centre takeaways are complaining about each other in a bid to force out competition, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the meeting of a BCP Council licensing sub-committee on Tuesday, solicitor Philip Day said issues were happening with “monotonous regularity”.

Representing Middle Eastern restaurant Pyramids, Mr Day said he believed people who had objected to its licence application were connected to nearby takeaways.

Two objectors wrote to the council in opposition to the new licence for the business complaining about loud music coming from the premises and the impact a 5am closing time on Fridays and Saturdays would have.

“My client has attempted to contact them but we have come to the conclusion that they don’t live where they say they do," Mr Day said.

“It’s an area with a lot of competition between outlets and with monotonous regularity they complain about each other and we believe that is the case here.”

Council licensing officer Michelle Fletcher said the two people had previously made noise complaints about the restaurant but requests for them to record the sounds were rejected.

The licence for the restaurant was lost earlier this year when Pyramids Bournemouth Ltd was dissolved by its accountant while its director was out of the country.

Attempts to recover the licence were abandoned due to the length of time and cost required by the county court process.

An application for a replacement – not including the sale of alcohol – was submitted in August.

In the mean time, temporary event notices have been used to allow the takeaway to open later on Fridays and Saturdays.

But it has now reached the annual limit of 21 it can use.

Mr Day said the inability of the restaurant to open after 11pm on its busiest days had caused its owners “significant hardship”.

“Business has fallen to practically zero,” he said. “It has cost them a significant amount.”

He said he expected “some form of redress” to be sought from the accountant responsible for the loss of the previous licence.

Due to the objections, the application was considered at Tuesday’s sub-committee meeting where councillors approved the new agreement.

Chairman, councillor David Flagg, said there were no concerns that allowing the restaurant to open later would add to anti-social behaviour issues in the town centre and agreed to grant the licence.