Caledonian Bar licensee Murdo Hudson has been asked to attend a meeting of the Highland Licensing Board next Tuesday in Golspie to discuss the residents' worries which have been raised by local councillor Maxine Smith.

There have been several complaints from neighbours of the King Street bar about people gathering around their houses, knocking on their windows, throwing bottles onto their windows and in their gardens and jumping over the fences into their gardens.

They raised the matter with Dave Thompson MSP, who contacted Councillor Smith, and the concerns were passed to the licensing board.

Councillor Smith told the Journal "I am satisfied that Mr Hudson runs a popular establishment for weekend drinking and there is little else to do in terms of evening entertainment in Invergordon for the ones who want to socialise. He tries to enforce strict rules within his establishment — for this I commend him, however he must also bear in mind what happens once he closes his doors at night. For some time afterwards crowds and patrons who are under the influence of alcohol hang around his bar either smoking, waiting for lifts, taxis or generally chatting — they often require to relieve themselves and jump into the nearest garden — and they do not realise how noisy and intimidating they are being. Mr Hudson has been invited to the board for us to discuss a way forward that suits everyone and goes some way to alleviating these issues."

Mr Hudson told the Journal he was unaware of an invitation to attend next week's meeting and said he would immediately be looking into the situation to try and clarify matters.

editor@rsjournal.co.uk

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