A NEWLY-returned councillor has objected to granting an entertainment licence to a local bar – because some events could take place on a Sunday.
Last week, Ards and North Down Council granted an entertainment licence to the Parlour Bar in Newtownards.
For a publican, winning the approval of a full council meeting is the last stage needed to obtain an entertainment licence.
It’s normally a smooth process, with the council usually waving them through without any discussion.
But last week alderman Alan Graham registered his objection, as the bar wanted to be able to have ‘indoor dancing, singing, music or any entertainment of a like kind [as well as] machines for entertainment and amusement’ seven days a week.
Mr Graham, whose farm on the outskirts of Bangor famously has a biblical verse painted in large letters on a barn overlooking the city’s main road to Belfast, took issue with that.
“I cannot consent to the public entertainment licence on a Sunday – or the Lord’s Day, as many people consider it to be,” the DUP alderman told last Wednesday’s council meeting.
Every other member of the council agreed to grant the licence in full to the Parlour Bar.
A veteran of the old North Down Council, Mr Graham lost his seat in a shock upset in 2019, but made a comeback in May’s election and now represents the Holywood and Clandeboye district.
He also made headlines around the world in 2011, when he chased pop star Rihanna off his farm after discovering the Barbadian singer missing several items of clothing during a video shoot on his property.
