Councillors are to have the final say on whether the owners of a café bar in St Ives will be permitted to extend the licensing hours of the venue.

Neil and Lianne Greatorex have applied to Huntingdonshire District Council for a variation in their licence that would allow them to open The Taproom, in Bridge Street, for an additional hour from Thursday-Saturday, and allow them to serve alcohol and play music later between those days too.

The terms of their existing licence allow the owners to open until 1.30am from Thursday to Saturday, and play music and serve alcohol until 1am. Under the proposal, those activities would be permitted to continue for an additional hour.

The application has been met with objection from some neighbours of the venue, however, who say the extended opening hours will create noise and disturbance in the area.

In consultation with the district council, George and Diana Smerdon said: “We have lived here for over 40 years and, during that time, we have had many occasions to object to new licences and opening times of different premises. As residents, we sadly often feel undermined, not listened to and marginalised.

“This is a residential and commercial area of St Ives, where we should have equal rights and views as the commercial premises.”

Susan and Ron Westrip added: “The Quayside area of St Ives has become predominantly residential and the residents now work together to keep the amenity clean and well presented for the many daily visitors. We now find ourselves often confronted with broken glass and vomit in public areas and late at night a regular stream of taxis often ignoring the traffic rules and using the town bridge.”

Other neighbours said they had been forced to wear ear defenders in bed while late-night events were being hosted at the venue.

As part of the application, Mr Greatorex noted: “We provide a high standard of staff training regarding licensing law, customer safety and we work with other organisations to share information.

“We also have CCTV and on busy evenings we have door supervision. We have a responsible and strict serving policy and we also have a longstanding relationship with safety consultants.”

The district council’s licensing sub-committee will meet on September 14 to consider the application.