WARSASH residents worried about late-night drunken behaviour on their doorstep will tonight oppose plans for a local pub to renew its late licence.

Residents living near the village's Ferryman pub have voiced frustration over drunken louts disturbing their sleep at weekends and want the pub's application to remain open until 1am turned down.

Lynda Thomas, 82, of Church Road, one of the main routes off Warsash Road where the pub is situated, said the constant disturbance fills her with dread: "I seem to be a target for people who prefer to be drunk and make my life a misery. I have had bricks thrown through my porch window and my brick wall kicked down several times."

Jamie Sainsbury, of Warsash Road, said: "The level of drunkenness is of greatest concern, and more often than not people are so drunk they can barely walk and are either walking in the road or falling on to our own or other neighbours' properties."

He added: "We feel that the pattern of noise and behaviour we are experiencing is in excess of what is reasonable."

The Ferryman is open until midnight from Monday to Thursday and until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.

Although no objections have been lodged by health or pollution officers, local beat police officer PC Geoffrey Tarvin said he sympathised with residents.

He said: "The Ferryman is situated in the heart of a village whose residents are generally tucked up in bed after accepting the normal noise up to midnight from local pubs on Friday and Saturday nights. However, they are constantly being woken by drunken people allegedly fighting and swearing."

But landlady Terri Stones said it was unfair to blame the pub.

She said: "I have been told by the police that the pub has been better than it ever has been over the last ten years. I don't think everything can be linked to the pub. I finish serving drinks at 12.30pm and can't see that there would be rowdy behaviour at 2am. There are other parties and things that go on in the village as well."