A “SECRET” restaurant and bar can now open later despite angry neighbours claiming noisy customers leaving the venue often cause them sleepless nights.

West Kirby’s Nancie Henry Cafe has been granted extended opening hours despite months of conflict with residents, which once saw a fuming man enter the bar to switch off the music himself.

Another claimed she is often kept awake at night, and that on one occasion “people were howling on their hands and knees” when leaving the Grange Road bar.

Representing himself at the meeting was Dan Barnes, owner of the venue recently described as an “amazing secret restaurant”.

He said disturbances can often be confused with customers at the JD Wetherspoon Dee Hotel next door, that Nancie Henry is a “premium bar”, and that he has made effort to cooperate with residents.

At a fiery meeting of Wirral Council’s licensing act 2003 sub-committee on Wednesday, Cllr Tony Cox was one of those to speak on behalf of 13 local residents’ objections.

He told the committee: “I wish the business every success however I think the location is wholly inappropriate for what we are talking about.

“The property next door has later opening hours, but it does because it’s a Wetherspoon’s. There is no music in those type of bars.

“This is not city centre location, it’s not a nightlife spot. It’s a village. The business is in the confines of West Kirby and should reflect that.”

He also raised concerns over a lack of transport links and that it’s too close to homes.

He added: “I don’t think anyone on the panel would want to live next to a music venue. I wouldn’t want the enjoyment of my own property ruined by loud music from the venue next door to me.”

Mr Barnes said: “The cafe and recent events have attracted a more mature crowd. With the exception of five events this year, the outside of the venue is not used.

“We believe it is a welcoming beacon when people come into the town. We are open for coffee in the morning and food and drink in the evening.

“We are proud of our food, of our building, and we believe it benefits the town.”

The meeting heard the venue, which can hold up to 200 people, has taken out five ‘temporary event’ notices since the start of the year, which included one for a garden party in April, when the venue had reportedly opened later into the night.

Residents were angry social media posts advertising the event as running from ‘4pm until late’, despite Nancie Henry’s only having permission for its garden to be used until 9pm.

Mr Barnes said these type of parties start outside before guests are brought inside.

Further complaints by residents attending Wednesday’s meeting at Wallasey Town Hall accused Nancie Henry of wanting to be a “nightclub hosting Ibiza-type parties”, another allegation Mr Barnes said “was not the case”.

Mr Barnes said he wanted events like garden parties to start earlier so that guests leave earlier.

Speaking about one of the recent nights in April, one resident said: “I was woken at 1am, 2am 3am and 4am. People were howling and on their hands and knees crawling down Westbourne Road. That is not conducive to living in a village. It’s more like living in the city centre.”

Mr Barnes responded by saying people often confused disturbance from his venue with that of the next door Wetherspoon’s, which also has permission to open later.

Resident Patrick King described to the meeting an evening in June last year when he said loud music from the venue went late into the night, with people allegedly both outside and inside the venue – against its current licence.

He said it was after 1am when he entered the venue himself and asked the DJ to turn off the music, with sound levels “far in excess” of regulation, before taking matters into his own hands and turning it off himself.

However Mr Barnes contested the allegation that the music was too loud, accusing the resident of seeing “red mist” – also adamant that “no one was outside the property after 10.30pm”.

He also said he offered Mr King the chance to meet and discuss the matter – a request that was turned down.

Claire Williams, who owns one of the neighbouring properties and leases it to a tenant, said: “Our resident feels she can’t use the garden at all on summer nights and is unable to sleep. It’s not just at the time of the event, it’s when people are leaving and arriving. It looks like it will continue throughout the summer.”

She said on one recent occasion, the volume of music felt like the “bass music had gone almost through the building”.

“She is at the end of her tether with this. We marketed the property as a family home,” she added.

Mr Barnes said: “We put signs up saying ‘please leave quietly’. There are lots of bars around the town, so there can be drunk antics going on, I don’t think the comments made are reflections of our general operations.

“All I want to do is to have one last shot at getting our business to survive. These garden parties are not enjoyable for me. I am trying to do it in a way which doesn’t annoy neighbours.”

The venue was granted permission to open from 7am until midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and until 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays – slightly earlier than applied for.

The licence also states the venue can serve alcohol until 11pm between Sundays and Thursdays, and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

A number of conditions were also agreed, including that details of local taxi firms would be promoted at Nancie Henry’s.