A restaurant in Crowthorne will be able to play live music on weekends – but not as late as once hoped, after last-minute changes to plans were made to address neighbours concerns.

The fine-dining European restaurant is taking over the site of Triple BBB’s Smokehouse on 19 High Street in Crowthorne following its closure last year.

A Bracknell Forest Council licensing panel granted the new establishment permission to play live music and serve alcohol on the premises on Tuesday, July 23.

But live music – consisting of incidental saxophone or violin performances – will only be able to go on until closing at 11pm rather than 11:45pm, as originally applied for.

The planning permission for the eatery sets out the opening hours as 12pm-11pm, meaning to seek a ‘late night’ application was no longer necessary.

But people living next door to the premises had complained to the council over noise and disruption concerns, both based on the music and the selling of alcohol.

Neighbour Vinesh Dowlutta attended the meeting. He said that although he supported the restaurant ‘because they’re going to help business in the area’, he was worried about parking, claiming ‘we don’t want cars to be stacked up in our carpark’.

Cllr Purnell asked Mr Dowlutta if he recalled any issues while Triple BBB’s Smokehouse was in operation.

Lawyer for the owners Louis Stelling said: “This is a food-led enterprise, this is not going to be a late-night club drinks bar. It is very clearly going to be a restaurant.”

The music would be ‘incidental background music, akin to any normal restaurant’ and carefully managed so that noise did not disrupt neighbouring properties.

He claimed that owners didn’t know where rumours of a ‘resident DJ’ had come from, and that a local had been spreading this false information.

He added that owners ‘are of course aware and sympathetic to the concerns of local residents’ and were happy to engage with them.

Mr Dowlutta was reminded that parking was not an issue that could be dealt with by the licensing committee.

Other residents had expressed their ‘total disbelief’ over the fact that live music was being considered by the licensing committee.

One local wrote: “I do not believe that another late license business will be good for the community of Crowthorne.”

The representative for the restaurant has ensured that owners will do everything they can to mitigate the potential impact it will have on residents.