‘We are not Wetherspoons’ – rugby club wants to serve alcohol until 1.30pm

Drighlington Rugby Club applied to the council for permission to serve alcohol at Drighlington Meeting Hall from 10am-11.30pm on Sunday to Thursday, and from 10am-1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The plans received more than a dozen objections from local people, but those in charge of the club insisted the bar was “not Wetherspoons”, adding that the extended morning hours would only be used for special functions, such as funerals.

Carl Richards, the club’s vice chair, told a meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee: “We are not allowed to make any profit – all profits we do make are ploughed back into the building or sport.

“The only people who get paid at the club is the bar manager – it takes over 200 volunteer hours a week to keep going.

“It’s not just a rugby club. We could have gone to the new building and run it the same as we had. We didn’t want that – we wanted it to be run as a community centre.”

The meeting heard how 15 representations were made against the application from nearby residents who opposed it on grounds of public nuisance.

Mr Richards added: “We fully understand the residents’ fears – part of those fears, I think, come out of the perception that the building should be run as a community centre and not as a pub.

“Unfortunately we need to run it as a pub to generate the income to run the facility for the other organisations. All the other organisations pay £10 an hour for use of the building, but a commercial rate is £25 an hour, but we want to keep it cheap for the local community.

“Hopefully the panel can realise it’s not just a business to us. Since the licence was granted, we never had one complaint regarding licensing in 28 years.

“We have no intention of opening at 10 o’clock every morning – we are not Wetherspoons. We would be happy, on a school day, not to open until 3pm, unless it is for a funeral.”

The plans also had a provision for live music matching the alcohol times.

Mr Richards said: “In the last 12 months we have had five bands on. The music will probably stop at 12.30am. It’s not massive in our plans – we always support local artists, but in the last 12 months we have had five (performances).”

The committee then met to discuss the plans in private before announcing that it would let the applicants know the outcomes within five working days.