The renewal of a Winchester bar's late licence is causing howls of protest.

The Moloko Bar in The Square can open until midnight and sometimes later every night except Sunday.

Managers, David Heath and Jonathan Turpin, want the late licence transferred to Mr Heath's wife, Gillian - and renewed. They also want the venue's legal capacity upped from 250 to 330.

Winchester City Council's licensing committee was due to rule on the application as the Chronicle went to press.

Only magistrates can close the bar, but the committee can withdraw the late licence, as recommended by officers. Police have slammed the application, saying drunken customers have committed crimes and alcohol has been sold to minors.

Both Mr Heath and Mr Turpin face six charges of selling alcohol to under-18s, with a trial scheduled in September. Officers added that Mr Turpin had also been charged with common assault after a scuffle in December.

Sergeant Steve French, of North Walls police station, said that 73 crimes were linked to the bar in 2003. He added that 25 offences were committed by under-18s. Offences included a drunken brawl leading to the arrest of four males in April.

The same month, an intoxicated man left the venue after taking up the bar's "all you can drink for £15" deal, said police. He smashed three nearby shop windows, causing damage of £500.

"He was detained a short time later having left the scene minus a shoe and bleeding from the elbow," said Sgt French.

The Big Security Co, which supplies some staff at the venue, is also concerned, after an inspection in March found 323 customers in the bar.

A council report circulated before yesterday's meeting added that the management sometimes overruled door staff who turned customers away.

The same report also includes a letter from Mary Edwards, security and safety officer at University College Winchester, who said that on the rare occasions students required medical attention after excess drinking, they had usually been to the Moloko Bar drink.

"They have no concern for the welfare of their customers. Indeed, they seem to only care about the profit they can generate," she stated.

A letter from Sheila Gray, of the Minsters Residents' Association, explained what it is like to live near the bar. "We regularly experience major disturbances, including fighting and swearing, well into the early hours."

Bishop Morley College is a sheltered housing block for eight widows of clerics and is four doors away. In a statement, warden, Mrs S. Reed, told the council there was often noise and sometimes violence outside the venue at night. She said that vomit and urine were frequently found in their garden.

"Hosing down the pavement so residents and tradespeople may use the back gate is not what I expected to be obliged to do when I became warden here," she added.

Mr Turpin said complaints about the bar and its customers, along with the outstanding charges, had not been proved. "The onus is on them to prove it, not for me to defend it."

Mr Turpin said because selling alcohol was not the main purpose of the licence, any complaints about the bar relating to alcohol were irrelevant.

Council officers disagree, saying the venue's licence is not primarily used for music and dancing, but to permit drinking after normal hours.