A Cornwall Council meeting has heard that residents living near a new entertainment venue fear it will add to antisocial behaviour in the area.

However, the well-known businessman behind the venture promises it will be a “classy” and well-run operation.

Merlin Cinemas applied to the council for a premises licence for The Ritz in Penzance, an Art Deco-style building in Queen Street which originally opened as a 1,000-seater cinema in 1935. The regional cinema and entertainment company, which also operates the Savoy cinema in the town, has refurbished the building as a multi-purpose venue for live drama, cabaret, stand-up comedy, touring and local bands, and dance club nights.

However, a meeting of a licensing committee heard on Wednesday, June 11, that its proposed late night opening was of serious concern to many neighbours. Merlin had applied to open The Ritz until 2am on Thursdays to Saturdays and 1am the rest of the week, with the sale of alcohol stopping an hour before closing time.

Nine residents made written representations opposing the licence, with one of them, Gill Fickling, saying at the meeting that she thought it was great that Merlin Cinemas’ managing director Geoff Greaves was renovating the “wonderful old building” and that she was all for increasing entertainment and employment in Penzance. “Having said that, I probably live closer to The Ritz than most other people, with a new extension a metre from my house.

“My concerns are about noise personally, but I’m speaking for other neighbours in St Mary’s Close and neighbours who live behind The Ritz, not down Queen Street. Whether people go up or down Queen Street is not an issue for us – the noise will come from the building itself, from the preparation of gigs with equipment being loaded in and, more importantly, with equipment being loaded out at night.

“If noise is going on till possibly 12 or 1, even 11, I think that will cause quite a lot of disturbance.” Echoing the feelings of other residents, she was concerned about it adding to antisocial behaviour in the area, particularly in nearby Morrab Gardens.

Trevor Thorne, another concerned resident, also spoke at the meeting. In his written submission, he said: “There has been a considerable rise in antisocial behaviour in the Morrab Gardens/St Mary’s Terrace areas in recent years which has so far not been dealt with. Drunken behaviour and wanton vandalism is a daily occurrence in the area and there are also major issues with Class A drugs in the gardens. The head gardener collects used syringes on a daily basis.

“There have also been incidents of people camping in the Gardens and the use of the area as an outdoor public toilet. Creating a late night establishment in Queen Street selling alcohol is only likely to add to these issues and to the footfall in the surrounding residential areas after midnight.”

The meeting heard that The Ritz, which is due to be completed in about six weeks’ time, had been well soundproofed. The venue is in Penzance’s Cumulative Impact Zone, which limits the number of licensed premises in a problem area.

Mr Greaves promised The Ritz will be a “very classy venue” which wouldn’t attract any “riff raff”. He said: “I’m particularly passionate about this project because the company started in Penzance. I came upon the redundant and empty Ritz cinema some 12 years ago and decided that we should try and save the building and refurbish it, which is largely what we’ve now done.

“We have a lot of other licensed premises and we’ve never encountered any problems with any of them. The most similar to this application is the Regal in Redruth where we’re licensed until 2am, though we very rarely get as late as 2am. It gives us a great deal of flexibility if there’s an aftershow cast party and they want to use the bar.”

He explained the ethos of The Ritz to councillors: “We see this as a multi-purpose venue for the people of Penzance. We actually made a list of 30-plus uses for the building. Yes, we want to be able to do dance nights – Penzance lacks any sophisticated dance venue – and we’re looking to do lots of other things as well. We’ve been approached by local book shops who want to do book launches there, we plan to do silent discos, cabaret evenings with food and drink, visiting musicians, a venue for local bands.”

Mr Greaves stressed it would not be a late night music venue “as perhaps some of the residents perceive it”. He said there could even be afternoon bingo and discos for older people, adding that a dance night was planned but it wouldn’t be like a previous 2014 licence when the building was primarily used as a dance venue.

“I am very aware this is a residential area and we will take all the usual steps to make sure people leave quietly – posters, key members of staff front of house asking people to leave quietly.” He said the police were comfortable with security plans.

Having read people’s concerns, Mr Greaves believed very few people would leave down Queen Street. Customers will be advised to park in St John’s car park or the car park behind Causewayhead, therefore entering and leaving the premises from the top of Queen Street.

He said he was happy to take concerned residents around the venue before it opens. A council officer said the noise conditions on the new venue are “robust” and stronger than many existing venues in the town.

Other written submissions from concerned residents were shared with the committee. One said: “The Ritz is located in a built-up residential area with many homes a short stone’s throw away from the venue. We also have many vulnerable people housed in local authority owned residences on Queen Street who would be badly impacted by the noise and disturbance a regular, excessive opening of the venue would cause.” Another resident wrote that it can get “very frightening” in the area.

After deliberating in private, the committee agreed to grant the licence with additional conditions, including employing a minimum of two door staff on any night a dance event is held, with an additional member of door staff for every additional 50 customers over an attendance of 100 people. Councillors also agreed that loading or unloading of equipment should not take place before 8am and after 11pm, and there should be no admission to new customers after 10.30pm on any club dance night.

Members gave careful regard to the representations of residents but felt on balance that the licence and agreed conditions would not add to the “cumulative impact” in the area.