A PUB beer garden must close early because of complaints about noise, councillors have ruled.

Bury Licensing Panel took the decision last week after people living near the Rose and Crown pub in Cockey Moor Road, Bury, complained about noise in the evening.

Under the old licensing conditions, the pub had to lock its beer garden at 10pm daily as it backs on to a housing area in Lowercroft Road.

Also, no drinks could be taken into the smoking area after 10pm.

However, 10 complaints about noise had been made to the council since July 2009.

According to a council report, one neighbour said he recently phoned a pub representative on a Saturday night to get the music turned down.

On June 19, when England played Uruguay in the World Cup, the neighbour said there was noise from cars, horns and people chanting.

The report said: “These complaints refer to noise emanating from either the beer garden or the outside smoking shelter.”

One woman claimed that on two weekends in May customers used the beer garden until 11pm.

The noise was so bad, she said she had to move her two-year-old son to a different bedroom.

Another said they had “experienced noise and abusive and drunken behaviour issues until 2-3am”. Bottles and glasses were said to have been thrown into the resident’s garden and over the pub car park.

The council sent warning letters to the pub in 2011 and 2013, and officers visited it last November and in March this year to remind them of licensing conditions.

During the 90-minute hearing, a representative of the pub’s owner, Greene King, spoke to the panel, who decided that the garden should be shut every day by 8pm.

Afterwards, a Greene King spokesman said: “As a responsible retailer, we work hard to provide a safe and comfortable environment for our customers as well as local residents.

“We are working with the team at the pub on a way forward that takes the concerns of our neighbours into account.”