A NEWPORT pub has agreed to bar customers from swearing from its beer garden after complaints about noise from neighbours.

The Red Lion in Backhall Street in Caerleon has had its licence conditions changed following complaints of shouting, swearing and loud music fromthe beer garden.

The conditions, agreed by Newport council’s licensing subcommittee with licensee Punch Taverns, will see the beer garden closed after 10pm with no regulated entertainment permitted there.

One condition, understood to refer to the garden, reads that “swearing and other loud boisterous behaviour will not be permissible and action to remove those who fail to cease such behaviour upon request will be effective.”

The council’s environmental protection department had requested a review of the pub’s licence, claiming designated premises supervisor Angela Jones had failed to manage the beer garden.

Officers at Newport council had received complaints from residents about noise from patrons using the beer garden, and from amplified music during events in the beer garden, since June 2011.

The situation had not improved despite a number of meetings with Mrs Jones.

A police community support officer, who spoke to a neighbour last September, found her in tears after she told her she could not stand the noise from the garden anymore and could not sleep, a council report said.

The resident had witnessed patrons using the beer garden after 11pm, when it was meant to have been vacated.

Mrs Jones said the issue has been resolved with the complainants.

But she said stopping people swearing was “going to be very difficult. We have agreed to do 15 minute checks in the garden.

“If we hear people using bad language the we will ask them to keep their language down,” he said.

Cllr Allan Morris, of the licensing sub-committee, said he was delighted Punch Taverns had “gone out of their way” to deal with the complaints.

“It’s a victory for common sense and good neighbourliness,” he said.

One neighbour, Pam Lloyd, 54, of Backhall Street said she has no issues with noise levels. “I have no problems at all,” she said.

Another Backhall Street resident who did not wish to be named felt the same: “We have never had any problems with noise and if there is going to be a party then it is only a one-off and Angela lets us know before.”

ARGUS COMMENT: Last orders for swearing

THE news that a Newport pub has been told to ban swearing in its beer garden after complaints should be welcomed.

The Red Lion in Caerleon has had complaints from neighbours about the behaviour of some customers including shouting, swearing and loud music.

So to tackle this Newport Council licensing committee took the unusual step of agreeing licence conditions with owners Punch Taverns effectively outlawing swearing and other boisterous behaviour in their pub garden.

While everyone is entitled to have a good time when they go out, the damage noise nuisance causes to neighbours cannot be underestimated.

One neighbour was driven to tears after she was unable to sleep due to the noise.

Some may consider this ban above and beyond the remit of local councillors but pubs have a hard enough time attracting customers at the moment and any policy that encourages well-mannered clientele is not to be ignored.

And by banning foul language can change the attitude of a pub overnight.

Landlords who have had to take over raucous pubs in the past have attested to the fact that by curbing swearing it changes the overall antisocial behaviour of their clientele.

If pubs have a future as community hubs they have to find a way to get along with the people that live closest to them.