THE restaurant and bar at the Feathers Hotel in Ludlow will open tomorrow.

This follows an eleventh-hour compromise over a licensing application.

A bid to be able to sell alcohol until 1.30am in the week and until 2.30am at weekends had resulted in objections, but a compromise has now been reached that will allow the iconic hotel to open its bar and restaurant on time.

This is the latest development in the re-opening of the hotel at the top of Corve Street.

Earlier this year the tearoom was re-opened and it is believed that later this year the hotel, which has been undergoing a £1.5 million refurbishment, will open for staying guests.

The Feathers Hotel has agreed to reduce its late opening hours by one hour. The owners, Crest Hotels, had applied to be open to walk in customers to serve alcohol until 1am on weekdays and 2am on Friday and Saturday (plus 30 minutes drinking up time).

“This is too late an hour – or early a morning – for our town centre,” said Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North, who had headed the objections.

He had been concerned that the proposed opening hours would result in noise and other anti-social behaviour as drinkers moved onto the Feathers to drink after leaving other pubs in the town with an earlier closing time.

In the past there have been problems of vandalism and anti-social behaviour from late-night drinkers in the town centre.

It has included noise and broken glasses and bottles as well as incidents of

people urinating in the street.

As a result, there have been calls for stricter restrictions on pubs, including demands that landlords take a tougher line on serving customers who have had too much to drink.

“We have a lot of residential properties around the Feathers and we do not want this area to become a potential source of antisocial behaviour,” said Mr Boddington.

“The Feathers has now agreed to stop serving alcohol to walk in customers

at midnight on weekdays and at 1am on Fridays and Saturday.

“That’s fine and resolves all my objections.

“I have formally withdrawn my objection because my concerns have been fully answered.

“In any event, the path looks open for the licence application to be approved.

“I look forward to the Feathers Hotel opening for food and drinks on October 18 as planned.”

Mr Boddington; Tim Gill, Mayor of Ludlow, and Member of Parliament Philip Dunne, have all said that the reopening of the

hotel is an important development for the town and will boost the local economy.

A number of new jobs have been created.

The Feathers was bought by Crest Hotels last December following a period in which it was closed following a collapse in business after a guest died following a visit.