A tapas bar became the first victim of the newly extended Community Impact Zone after councillors recommended refusal of an application to extend its opening times until 1am at weekends.

Falmouth’s town councillors considered an application from Lemon Twist at a recent meeting of its planning and licensing committee.

The bar on Discovery Quay wants to vary its licence for live and recorded music and late night refreshment from 11pm to 1am the next day and to sell alcohol from 8am until 1am on Friday and Saturday only. The existing opening hours are Monday to Sunday 8am to half past midnight.

The committee heard that the police said they had no concerns about the application as it was well run establishment with no trouble and no noise issues at the moment. The licensing officer also had no concerns.

However councillors did raise concerns over how it would impact on the recently renewed Community Impact Zone (CIZ) which now covered a wider area extending all the way over to Swanpool.

CIZ considerations when looking at licensing applications include prevention of crime and disorder, prevention of public nuisance and protection of children from crime.

Falmouth mayor Cllr Steve Eva said allowing the extension could set a precedent for events that took place on the square such as Falmouth Week.

“The other day they turned down an extension on the Kings pub because they said it was impacting on the CIZ. Now there’s a CIZ in place this must impact on it, it cannot not impact on it.

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“You’ve got people who live there, and don’t get me wrong I’ve always said you shouldn’t buy a flat on that square and then complain when events happen.

“But when they run Falmouth Week everything usually finishes at 10pm, and now we are saying you are going to say you are going to let them have a licence until 1am in the morning.

“It sets a precedent then for Falmouth Week going on until 1am how can you turn it down? So I’m not going to support this.

Councillors recommended refusal of the application on the grounds of noise and loud music. A final decision will be made by Cornwall Council’s licensing committee.