A PUB has been granted longer opening hours despite objections from a local resident.

The Travellers Rest, in Evenwood, has been given permission to stay open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and midnight the rest of the week.

Teesdale District Council's licensing committee has also granted an entertainment licence.

At yesterday's committee meeting, village resident Susan Shine told councillors her nine-year-old daughter was scared to go to bed because of the noise and swearing when the pub emptied.

She said her family could hear music from the pub even with their doors and windows closed.

Mrs Shine said: "Unless you hear it, you don't know what it's like to have music pounding in the house. When you think about granting licences, you're sentencing us to a lot of upset."

However, Mark Hodgson a solicitor acting on behalf of Jennings Brothers, said the licencee Margaret Houghton had put up notices asking residents to leave quietly and there had been no complaints from other residents.

He said the pub's business was mainly food-oriented, but the new licence would give Mrs Houghton extra flexibility.

He said: "This is the only pub in the village with a function room and provides a valuable facility for the village.

"It's a village community pub and is used for Spanish classes, SureStart and parish council meetings. If this wild west picture they painted was true, then the police and environmental health would be before us making representations, but they're not."

The council granted the new licensing hours on the condition that the pub's doors and windows were kept shut and notices were displayed advising people to leave quietly.