I ATTENDED a public meeting at the district council offices concerning the late opening of the Ludlow Arms in Westbury. The intention was to decide whether the Ludlow and its customers could continue to enjoy a late licence until 2am on Friday and Saturday.

Sadly the vote went against the Ludlow Arms and more importantly its customers.

There has been overwhelming support to maintain the licence, however it was decided by the minority to revoke the licence. It reminded me of Will Carling (former England rugby captain) referring to the England RFU committee as the '57 old farts'.

As a nation, there is great debate at government level for public houses to be allowed to open 24 hours as most European countries enjoys. One of the main reasons for this is to try and eliminate so-called binge drinking. What do we do in Westbury? We go back years instead of trying to move with the times.

There was a gentleman present giving his version of what happens at closing time and that he is kept awake. He has been here, by his own admission, for eight months. When you moved in did you not evaluate that you were living across the road from an area densely populated with public houses and takeaways? The Ludlow Arms openly advertised that it was open until 2am.

The police sergeant declared they have to travel between Warminster and Westbury. I find this wholly unacceptable that we do not have police in our own town doing what we, as ratepayers, pay for.

There are far more important issues that need to be addressed in Westbury than whinging about a pub that opens late, like the bypass, like the High Street. And then of course there is the Laverton Centre (which incidentally has a 2am bar licence!) where the council decided that we ratepayers would pay for it because they want a big council office.

P WHITE

Frogmore Road

Westbury