A BREWERY’S plan to open a taproom will go before councillors next week.

Malvern Hills Brewery, based in West Malvern Road, was granted planning permission for a taproom next to its main brewery in November and has now applied to Malvern Hills District Council for permission to sell alcohol between 8am and 10pm every day.

The proposed opening times for the tap room revealed in last year’s planning application would be 6pm to 10pm on Thursday and Friday and 12pm to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Nine objections have been raised against the brewery’s bid for an alcohol licence with many saying parking and congestion was already dangerous and attracting more people to West Malvern Road would only make it even worse.

Objector Vicki Frost said: “Of the eleven houses in the immediate area, only three have off-road parking, therefore the road is congested with residential parking. The parking becomes further congested at weekends and Bank Holidays when tourists visit the area.”

She said the cramped parking made West Malvern Road a single-lane road and few stuck to the 30 miles per hour speed limit. She said she feared more pressure from parking would only add to the total of accidents and near misses.

Julie Wood, also objecting, said she already had to put up with the noises of beer making and deliveries at the brewery and what had appeared to be a taproom in the planning application had now turned [with the planned licensing hours] into a pub and off-licence open seven days a week.

Another objector Andy Wood said he did not want a “mini-Wetherspoons” on his doorstep.

He said: “Along its entire length, wrapping around the hills, West Malvern Road is massively residential street. It is not a suitable location for something that is akin to a typical Wetherspoons, with early morning opening and late-night closing.

“I have to say I am somewhat staggered that the applicant has gone for such extensive hours, especially since, over a fairly drawn out planning permission process for the pub, absolutely none of this ever came out.

“The stated hours in the planning permission were ‘only’ a couple of weekday evenings and weekends. Even these hours are unacceptable to me, since they will, undoubtedly, still cause increased public nuisance.

“But to have consumption of alcohol all day, every day, is just going to encourage excessive drunken behaviour near parked cars and peoples’ houses.”

Some neighbours in West Malvern Road also objected to the plan during planning consultation – particularly over concerns about noise, parking problems and extra traffic.

West Mercia Police raised no objection to the plan.

Malvern Hills District Council’s licensing subcommittee meets on Tuesday, January 21 to make a decision.