EXE Valley Farm Shop near Thorverton has been successful in its bid to extend its alcohol licence hours for “occasional evening events” – but not for as long as it wanted to.

General Manager Marion Cann had applied for the shop to be able to sell alcohol for drinking on the premises and to host live music until 12.30am the next day on Fridays and Saturdays for “pre-booked weddings, functions and private events only”.

But Mid Devon District Council has only allowed alcohol to be sold until 11.30pm (30 minutes prior to the premises closing), and live music to be played until midnight, on those two days.

On other days of the week, the farm shop is already allowed to sell alcohol between 8am and 11pm. A licence is not required for live music between those hours, provided there are fewer than 500 people in the audience.

Six members of the public wrote to the council in opposition to the application, some living very close by. Their main concerns centred around possible noise pollution.

“The subcommittee was of the opinion that there was no overriding licensing objective which supported the refusal of the application for the premises licence,” said Cllr Lance Kennedy (Lib Dem, Tiverton Cranmore).

“The subcommittee was sympathetic to some of the concerns raised and would remind the parties that should future concerns arise regarding the premises license, these should be reported to the relevant authorities, including police, the licensing authority and the planning authority to deal with such matters.”

Exe Valley Farm Shop cannot begin hosting events until late yet as planning conditions specify areas of the shop must close at 10pm from Monday to Saturday. It has applied for planning permission to extend these hours until 1am the next day.

You can see that application on the council’s website under reference 26/00918/FULL.