A REBRANDED Conservative club has been granted a new premises licence allowing it to extend its hours and welcome non-members, but it will have to shut its beer garden by 10pm.

A former president of Monmouth Conservative Club - now styled The Club - was among those objecting to longer opening seven days a week at the Whitecross Street venue. The venue has been revamped and renamed after it previously struggled to attract new members.And a new premises licence granted by Monmouthshire Council will now allow non-members to enter without being signed in, although the licence will have a 10pm condition on the beer garden following objections from residents.One objector told last Friday’s meeting of the council’s licensing and regulatory sub-committee that neighbours "cannot tolerate" the levels of noise which they experienced during the summer, including during nights when Euro 2020 football matches were screened.The resident said he accepted "the good intentions" of the venue’s owners, but called for conditions to be imposed to limit noise."The noise in the beer garden during the summer months has been consistent and it has caused considerable distress to neighbours in the area," the objector said.However, the applicant told the committee that the venue had received no complaints about noise until the premises licence application had been submitted.He said CCTV and signs have been put up in the beer garden to stop noise, and that staff are told to ensure noise levels are kept down."We do everything we can both internally and externally to ensure that our neighbours are not inconvenienced in any way by excessive noise in the beer garden area," he said.The objector suggested a condition be imposed to close the beer garden at 9.30pm, but the applicant said he feared this would potentially result in problems being created outside the club.However, the applicant said the venue would be willing to close the beer garden at 10pm as "a reasonable compromise".Local Monmouth councillor Richard Roden (Welsh Con) asked whether encouraging more non-members would have any impact on any "bad behaviour".The applicant said that anybody who misbehaved would be excluded.The meeting heard the venue was "very close to closure" before it moved away from being a private club.But since it re-opened in May following a revamp, it has had 195 new applications for membership, while previously it only had two or three new applications.The new licence was granted with a condition the beer garden must close at 10pm.The licence will allow indoor sporting events, live and recorded music indoors and supply of alcohol from 8am to midnight.