A Somerset church which was converted into a pub can now serve alcohol and play music later into the evening after a new licence was granted.

Stephen Elliott runs The Chapel on Graham Way in the heart of Cotford St. Luke, near Taunton, next to the village’s Co-operative Food store.

Mr Elliott applied to Somerset Council to amend his existing licence, allowing him to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises and to play live or recorded music later on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The council’s licensing sub-committee west has signed off on these changes, despite locals’ concerns about noise and antisocial behaviour.

The sub-committee (which handles licensing issues within the former Somerset West and Taunton area) convened in Taunton to discuss the planned changes on April 2.

The pub, which first opened in 2008, currently serve alcohol and permits music until 11pm daily – with extended opening hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Under the new licence, the pub will be able to serve alcohol until midnight on Thursdays and Fridays and until 12:30am on Saturdays, with the 11pm cut-off remaining in place for the other days of the week.

Live or recorded music will also be permitted both inside and outside the premises until midnight on Thursdays and Fridays and until 12:30am on Saturdays – though Mr Elliott gave assurances that live music would not be played outside after 8pm and that noise levels would be “monitored and kept within reasonable levels”.

A local lodged a formal objection to the extended licensing hours, arguing it would exacerbate existing problems in the village.

They said: “Most Friday and Saturday nights, myself and my children are woken by drunk people coming out of the pub, shouting and kicking off outside of our house, and at times this has been quite frightening.

“We have drunks (usually teenagers and young adults) spilling out of the pub after midnight, shouting and kicking off in the Co-op car car park (which is right outside my house) and on many occasions they are stood right outside my house in my front garden arguing shouting and laughing, absolutely plastered.

“This will not be appropriate for our village.”

Cotford St. Luke is set to grow in the coming years, with Lovell Homes due to be construction by the summer of 2025 on 80 new homes on Dene Road and a decision pending on a further 52 homes on North Villas.

Mr Elliott took over The Chapel with his wife in December 2022, the couple having lived and worked in the village for more than a decade before this.

He told the sub-committee: “We’re quite well-known within the village, and we took over the pub with a view that we wanted to bring it back to being a village pub as the hub of Cotford St. Luke.

“We’ve had huge support from the day that we opened, and we work closely with the parish council, especially when it came to the coronation last year.

“The band evenings we run – which is the main reason for the requested change – are currently once a month, normally on a Friday evening, and we have secured temporary licences for those.

“This new licence gives us flexibility – we have a couple of weddings and small parties booked in this year.

“We are aware that there is a situation regarding teenagers in the Co-op car park, but they are not customers of The Chapel.”

After a short debate in confidential session, the sub-committee voted to grant the amended licence.