Fed-up neighbours of a town centre nightclub fear “absolute torture” after the venue won its bid to open until 3am on Thursdays - a controversial extension of three hours.

The Attic Bar in Dover has seen reveller numbers “double overnight” following the closure of rival nightspot Funky Monkey in September.

And now it has been granted later opening hours from Thursday to Saturday, despite a wave of objections from residents who claim “all hell breaks loose” outside the club.

The venue’s previous licence allowed it to only open until midnight on Thursdays, but closing time has now shifted to 3am.

The club has also been given an extra 30 minutes on Fridays and Saturdays, with revellers now allowed to stay until 4am.

Several residents in the area wrote to Dover District Council to object to the application, complaining of rowdy clubbers, “shouting, fighting, glass and rubbish”, and alleged violations of existing licence conditions.

Among them was Mr D.J Williams - a resident of the Stembrook Court flats opposite - who attended a Licensing Sub-Committee hearing to speak against the bid.

“For five days a week this street is as quiet as any I have lived in my entire life, including several years in the countryside,” Mr Williams said.

“But for five hours or so twice a week, all hell breaks loose.

“An influx of those who’ve already consumed alcohol in other premises occurs, and by 1am to 1.30am there is usually a mass of humanity outside the Attic Bar.

“They - because they’ve already consumed alcohol - are very noisy on occasion, and aggressive to each other.

“If these new extended hours are allowed a new application will be made in future until the premises are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Mr Williams told the committee he has called the police about incidents outside the club, but added: “I don’t think they would react unless there was a full-scale riot happening.”

Another objector wrote to the council to claim “the police are called multiple times every weekend”.

“The people living nearby suffer every weekend - this is unfair on people having to put up with the noise and violence,” they added.

Brendan Quinn, a council tenant on the ground floor of Stembrook Court, says the sound of revellers leaving the club in the small hours is like having “an alarm across the road”.

He even told of clubbers occasionally causing disturbance right outside his bedroom, or knocking on his window.

“The worst time is when they’ve all left - that’s when people have finally got to sleep, and they all come out and it’s party time again,” he said.

Mr Quinn described the new closing times as “crazy.”

“When do you get your rest?,” he said.

“Do you have to stay up all night and sleep in the day?”

“First it’ll be Thursdays, then it’ll be open all week - where do you draw the line?”

He added “weekends are quite hellish anyway”, but the club’s Thursday night opening “will be absolute torture”.

Declan, who lives opposite the Attic Bar, also takes issue with the later hours on Thursday nights.

“I can put up with it at the weekends, because I’m not waking up early the next morning for work, but of course it’s going to cause me problems,” he said.

“ I have to be at the office for 7am so I’m getting up early, I go to sleep early - I would like to get the hours of sleep.”

The Attic Bar opened in July last year on the site of what was the Party Bar nightclub.

After the latter was granted its premises licence in 2007, neighbours at Stembrook Court described the noise as “so loud it could wake a corpse”.

Declan says the period of quiet between the Party Bar shutting and the Attic Bar opening was bliss.

“It was good when they closed down for a while,” he said.

“It was nice and peaceful - you could get a decent sleep.”

Ben Pilott, the manager of the Attic Bar, hit back at objectors as he argued for the later opening hours.

He told the committee that since the closure of Funky Monkey in Bench Street - which has now been bought by the council - the Attic Bar’s attendance had “doubled overnight”.

“It’s no secret that since the closure we’ve become much busier,” he said.

“Although we are very busy now, the amount of times we request police assistance is very low, and most definitely not every weekend as one resident suggested.”

Mr Pilott rejected claims the club breaches its licensing conditions by not always having barriers up outside the venue, and suggestions from one objector that revellers should be breathalysed before entry.

He also highlighted the club’s membership of the local Pubwatch scheme, through which venues share information about trouble-making customers.

“We take our responsibilities as a licensed venue seriously and will always do what we can to prevent disturbance to our neighbours,” he said.

“There’s probably 15 to 20 residents in Stembrook who have my personal number.

“We do want to work with them, not against them - just give us an opportunity to do so.”

After hearing from all parties, the committee approved the later opening hours, but rejected a bid to extend the time of last entry from 2am to 3am.

It also dismissed a bid to play recorded music in a pool hall above the nightspot at the same hours as the club, citing noise fears because of its single-glazed windows.

DDC’s environmental health team - which deals with noise complaints - had raised an objection, stating that neighbours had called them previously concerned about the upstairs noise.

“People - especially young people - deserve a good time or whatever, but it’s just senseless, in the middle of the town, right across the road from a residential building...."

However, the pool hall, which was previously off limits from 10pm, can now stay open alongside the nightclub, but only with background music, a door supervisor, and the windows closed at 11pm.

The conditions are of little comfort to Stembrook residents, however.

Mr Quinn says the venue is “noisy from start to finish”, but emphasises he’s not against the principle of nightclubs.

“Live and let live,” he said. “People - especially young people - deserve a good time or whatever, but it’s just senseless, in the middle of the town, right across the road from a residential building.

“OK, give the young people a good time, but what about the residents here? You’ve got to have a bit of consideration for the residents, for God’s sake.”

Responding to claims of anti-social behaviour outside the nightclub, Acting Inspector Leigh Woolnough, of the Dover Community Safety Unit, said: “Kent Police takes anti-social behaviour and violence in the night-time economy very seriously.

“Dover's Local Policing Teams patrol the town at all times of the day and night, responding to emergency calls based on the level of threat, risk and harm reported.

“The town also has officers from the Community Safety Unit who monitor and respond to local concerns including issues of anti-social behaviour.

“This includes a dedicated licensing officer who works in partnership with licened premises and the local authority to ensure the town remains a safe place to socialise.

“The local council should be residents' first point of contact for noise concerns, but we will respond to persistent issues if they are believed to be linked to potential offences.”