Well-heeled spark

rise in objections

Licensees in some parts of the country are finding it harder to get extended opening hours than some national newspapers claim.

Some pubs in up-market Hampstead in London are not bothering to apply for longer hours with little prospect of them being granted.

Leeds, Preston and the borough of Kensington & Chelsea are also predicted to become appeals hot spots after operators had seen extra drinking hours rejected.

In Westminster, the council is routinely rejecting applications for extra hours. Protests in Hampstead are being led by a residents' association, the Heath and Hampstead Society, which has hired a top licensing lawyer, who has a 100% success rate in defeating applications.

Anna Mathias, of Joelson Wilson & Co solicitors, is reputed to cost £200 an hour, said: 'Hamsptead residents have the organisation and the resources to oppose these extensions. A number of applications, including one from the Wells in Well Walk, have been rejected.

Manager Stuart Holms said: 'We're not going to appeal. The whole thing's a shambles. The local councils is on the residents' side. Marcus Welby, acting manager of Gertie Brownes on Heath Street said: 'We're not even going to apply. People are reacting to adverse publicity in papers like the Daily Mail.

A Magistrates' Association spokesman said the appeals were more likely to materialise in densely populated licensing areas and would stretch resources.

The spokesman said: 'While these cases will be heard by special appeals panels there is the problem of court space and clerk time. If you consider it might take a minimum of half a day to hear one appeal you can appreciate the potential problems.

'Courts will still have to deal with criminal, family and youth cases so licensing appeals will have to take their turn in the queue.

'We have voiced our concern to the DCMS and at a variety of joint forums, but so far we have not got an answer, he said.