AN “out of control” village pub which closed after customers began fighting on the main street has been given a new lease of life as a micropub.

The Plough Inn, a feature of Charfield life since 1897, has reopened as a tiny real ale house.

The Wotton Road pub closed in February 2018 after months of noise and anti-social behaviour.

But the new owners are confident their micropub, which opened last month after extensive refurbishment, will not cause the same problems for residents of the nearby Kings Meadow estate.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Charfield, John O’Neill, said: “We had people fighting on the main road in Charfield, it was that bad."

But the previous licensee, Teresa Wheller, disputes the allegations. She claims there were no problems while she was in charge of the pub.

Cllr O’Neill spoke at a licensing hearing on behalf of an elderly Kings Meadow resident who objected to the licence application from Tankard Developments.

In the months leading up to the pub’s closure, her husband was dying of prostate cancer and she herself was being treated for breast cancer, he said.

“It was a particularly harrowing time and to be faced with all this anti-social behaviour and noise outside their window two or three times a week, we’re talking till half past two, three o’clock in the morning, it was totally unfair,” he said.

However, Cllr O’Neill said he had every faith the problems would not continue under new landlord Darren Hawkins, who is an investor in Tankard Developments.

The licensing subcommittee heard the first floor and half of the ground floor had been turned into a private dwelling for the pub management team.

The main bar area is now only only six metres wide and three metres long.

He said the smoking area had been halved in size, the heaters had been removed to discourage people from staying outside, and screens used to hide smokers from view had also been removed.

“We’ve got full control of it,” he said.

Tankard Developments were granted a licence to operate from 11am to midnight and host live and recorded music and performance dance. Mr Hawkins said he intends to close at 11pm except on special occasions.