A RESTAURANT and bar in a Fareham village will close down after the council restricted live music events.

The Wicks Bar and Grill in Knowle, north of Fareham, will serve its customers for the last time on New Year’s Eve.

Noise complaints from local residents prompted Winchester City Council to review the restaurant’s premises licence.

The licensing sub-committee decided to restrict to live music to one event per calendar month, with exceptions in December.

The owner George Madgwick, who is also a Portsmouth City Councillor, said he realised the restaurant would close down ‘within a few weeks or month of the decision’.

He said: "As soon as we reduced our nights the income was wiped out essentially – we went from doing an average of £12,000-£15,000 a week down to £3,000-£4,000 a week.

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"It was an incredibly large loss – we went from having 15 staff to having five staff – It’s taken a massive hit.

"Residents were disappointed, needless to say, it is the local social hub – it’s the only thing in the village where people can meet up and socialise and now that’s gone.

"I can’t see how it’s going to be used as anything that isn’t loud or sociable so it’ll probably end up as more flats or an office block – it’s a real shame for the village.

"For an entire village of 800 people they’ve now got to drive to their nearest watering hole – it’s a couple of miles out to Wickham.

"It’s a massive disappointment that three people complaining on five occasions have completely ruined the social hub for 800 people."

Winchester City Council was approached for comment.