Published: Thursday, 7th May, 2009 9:00am

Long-closed pub gets drinks licence

A COURT battle that has raged on for a year between the owners and licensees of The Wemyss Hotel in Port Seton has finally been resolved, council licensing officials heard.

The Links Road pub - which commands a prominent position in the heart of the village - has been boarded up since last May, when owner Punch Taverns was granted a court interdict to stop licensees Brian and Lisa Rowe trading on the premises, following a financial dispute between the parties.

In retaliation, the Rowes raised a court action against Punch alleging a breach of contract, and the two sides have spent the last year locking horns in the Court of Session.

The saga appeared to finally end last Thursday when East Lothian Council"s licensing committee agreed to grant a drinks licence to Punch, after hearing that the pub group had won a recent court case against the Rowes.

'There was another court case last Thursday which found in our favour,' a spokesman for Punch Taverns told last week"s meeting.

The meeting heard that the Rowes - who were eight years into a 20-year lease when Punch took steps to evict them - had 14 days to appeal against the decision, though the Punch Taverns representative told the meeting: 'We are fairly confident they won"t do that this time.'

He added: 'We"re well aware of the issues that the previous tenant has caused.

'We"ve taken action to remove her (Mrs Rowe) from the premises.'

A public objection to renewing the drinks licence was lodged with the council"s licensing department, but related to incidents that occurred under the Rowes" management.

The Punch spokesman explained that they were in talks with various candidates to take over the licence, including one who was currently a licensee of another East Lothian public house.

'It"s been an issue for us to get access to the place,' he said.

'It is our intention, once we get the premises back, to make a few changes.'

In January 2008, the hotel"s late licence was renewed following a six-month review of the premises, after allegations of rowdy behaviour in the vicinity.

Ward member Councillor Willie Innes said: 'Obviously these premises had problems in the past in terms of the management and the number of public objections about the activities stemming from these premises.

'The company (Punch Taverns) really needs to know we"re on the case here and if the management and the protests around it continue then we"ll take action against this pub as before.'

Councillor Sheena Richardson echoed his comments, saying: 'It will need to be very tightly run.'

The Rowes could not be reached for comment.