THE Golden Boat Chinese Restaurant and Take Away, which opened last Tuesday in Midhurst Road, has already attracted controversy from one local resident in its first week of business.

Rose Allen, who lives above the restaurant with her 12-year-old son Blane Allen Wadsworth, says they are both suffering late-night disturbance due to loud noise from the kitchen below.

Miss Allen, who has lived above the premises for more than 10 years, told The Herald: "The banging and crashing has been going on all of last week, prior to the opening, and started as early as 8am on Sunday morning.

"We could not go to bed and sleep on the opening night until after 11.30pm and on the two following days until after 11.15pm, when they had finished in the kitchen.

"This is very detrimental to my 12-year-old son's sleep and his health, as he is constantly disturbed by doors banging, loud voices, water pressure, the extractor fan and crockery and cutlery noises from below.

"The last owner of the premises, Mr Cooper, put in sound insulation, which was all ripped out again when the current owner Ms Wu, renovated what was previously Bibi Anna's.

"I was in floods of tears last Wednesday, due to lack of sleep and my son has become ill since then. My single biggest issue is the level of noise disturbance, which will no doubt increase with the festive period approaching fast."

In addition Miss Allen is concerned about customers who smoke, standing outside the restaurant in the Midhurst Road, with fumes drifting up through the open windows of her flat.

When Miss Allen bought the flat in the late 1880s building over 10 years ago, the premises below were a shop, owned by a butcher, who sold out shortly afterwards.

For the last eight years, there have been two previous restaurants, Les Grand Anglais and Bibi Anna's which closed in 2006.

In August this year, Miss Allen made an emotional appeal to East Hampshire District Council's licensing sub-committee, requesting a restriction of the time of licensable activities on the premises, which was granted and restricted to 5pm to 11pm Tuesdays to Thursdays, 5pm to 12pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 5pm to 10pm on Sundays, to prevent public nuisance.

The licensing sub-committee also decided that recorded music must not be audible outside the premises and that the courtyard could be used by staff but not customers.

The new owners had installed sound proofing and are working with EHDC's environmental health department to limit its impact on neighbours.

Further conditions placed on the owners were that closers should be placed on external doors to stop them slamming and that sound-proofing measures should be taken to soften the impact of refrigeration units in an outside storage building.

Mr Huu Le spoke to The Herald on behalf of the co-owner Ms Wu. "When we purchased the restaurant two years ago, we delayed development in order to conform to all the specifications laid down by law.

"We have added double the insulation to reduce noise levels and spent a considerable amount of money on a new extractor fan system and wherever possible we are doing what we can to reduce noise levels.

"But it is a commercial property and although I sympathise with Miss Allen, there have been two previous restaurants here for more than eight years.

"The response we have had from our customers so far has been very positive and we have done extensive interior renovation to bring the premises up to modern standards."