A town centre cocktail bar will not be allowed to stay open until 4am on Monday mornings amid an ongoing noise row with neighbours.

New bosses of The Page, in Gravesend, applied to increase the venue’s hours for live music, recorded music, late-night refreshments and the sale of alcohol to the borough council.

Mr Sadiq Muritala wanted to change the premises licence so he could stay open until 1am Monday to Thursday and until 4am Friday to Sunday.

Previously, the lounge in Parrock Street was open until midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.

During a licensing panel meeting on Friday, June 21, Mr Muritala said the changes were being sought because customers tended to arrive at the venue later in the evening and wanted to stay longer.

He added: “The majority of our customers have come back to us that they feel rushed when they come to our premises and this has a major, significant decrease in our revenue.

“Our business relies solely on the weekend.”

However, the request was objected to by Gravesham council’s environmental protection team due to an ongoing and unresolved noise complaint from a neighbour.

In the submitted evidence, it said there was a “frequently recurring noise nuisance” which had been “adversely affecting” the household since August 2023.

It added notices and warnings of a license review had been served on the nightclub and a community protection notice had also repeatedly been breached.

Despite this, it did say the operator had “made attempts to try to limit the amount of noise escaping his premises” and it was agreed it was coming from the rear garden area.

Mr Muritala provided evidence stating he had hired a sound engineer to assess and adjust music levels, reduced the number of patrons allowed in the garden and introduced security to help manage it.

He said he had secured a loan to build a lobby area and install sound-absorbing panels into the garden to try and plan to establish another lobby at the entrance to the garden.

The report also said the business was closed for a month to further soundproof the bar installing triple-glazed windows, upgraded doors, wall insulation and automatic sensor control doors.

It added: “We believe the ultimate long-term solution is to build a solid, non-retractable, sound-insulated roof over the rear garden.

“However, this will require planning permission and substantial funding, which the business cannot afford now due to our significant business loans for the work already done, which we are still servicing.”

Mr Muritala, who took over the bar a year ago, has also already reduced the hours the garden is open to help mitigate the noise.

He added: “We know what we need to do. We do not have to be compelled by enforcement to do the right thing.

“We are happy to do the right thing without being forced upon.

“I am confident that there would be no noise nuisance emanating from the rear garden from the main area.”

Despite the improvements made, Mr Keith Moorhouse, of the council’s environmental protection team, said the consistent issues were “unacceptable”.

He told the panel: “All the work you have done has not resolved the issue.

“There is no way we could agree to an extension of hours under those circumstances.

“It is kind of throwing everything at the problem and hoping something sticks and in the meantime, despite all of this, the noise nuisance is still recurring.

“The complainant has never asked for silence. We have never asked for silence. The nature of the area is you would expect some noise.”

Mr Moorhouse also branded plans to stay open until 4am on a Sunday as “completely unreasonable”.

The licencing panel published their decision this week saying The Page can be open from Sunday to Thursday from 12pm to 1am, and until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.

However, the rear garden will be closed by 12am with door supervision in place Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The nightclub was formerly known as Whispers, then The Silk Bar and later Bar Code.