PLANS to extend the licensing hours of The Plough public house in West Street, Farnham, have been met with fierce opposition by local residents ahead of a meeting of Waverley Borough Council's licensing sub-committee next week. The contentious proposals to extend the pub's opening hours until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays will lead to a continuation of late-night "hooliganism", including window smashing, fighting, urinating and vomiting outside houses, say protesters. Many of those who live close to the pub describe it as "rowdy" and complain of a long history of drunken behaviour going back years. The Shepherd Neame Brewery, having taken ownership of the pub last June, has sought to shake off the stigma attached to the premises during its years as a member of the student-friendly Scream chain. Despite this turn around, many are worried that an extension of licensing hours at the pub will be a signal for old habits to be resumed. "I've put up with previous late-night rowdy behaviour, swearing, using my bungalow walls as a urinal, throwing plants through my door and banging on my bedroom window," reported one angry resident in a letter of objection to Waverley. "If this application is allowed I would expect the council to build a protective wall around my bedroom." Another resident said that tackling growing alcohol problems by lengthening drinking hours is a policy "straight out of Alice in Wonderland" and should not be extended to The Plough. "This is an essentially residential area with a large elderly population who want to enjoy quiet nights and to live near the town centre," he said. One resident sent the council a copy of The Herald's reporting on violence outside the pub last year that saw three teenagers spared jail for an alcohol-fuelled attack after a busy Friday night. Alongside a request to stay open later at weekends are proposals to stay open until 12-30am from Sunday to Thursday. The application to Waverley licensing chiefs also asks for the right to show films, indoor sports, live music and karaoke to be included in a new licence for the premises. James and Phyllida Anderson live at Potters Gate and say that they lived happily in close proximity to the pub for years until it became part of the Scream chain. "The trouble really started in 1993 and since then we've had to deal with people climbing over our walls, urinating against our house, throwing lit cigarette ends over our wall and various other intrusions onto our property," said Mr Anderson. "Since Shepherd Neame have taken over it has been much better and we're happy with the way they're running it and wouldn't want to say anything against that. However, we were dismayed to learn of this application for longer hours and feel as though we may be heading back to the state that we were in before." He went on to say that his fellow residents are all "weary" of complaining about the pub, resulting in only 10 letters of objection going before the committee next week. "Sometimes we used to get so many cigarette ends thrown into our garden that we would take them all round to the pub and just dump them all, hundreds of them, onto the bar. We had to take down a gazebo once because of lit cigarette ends being thrown over our wall." Apart from the noise level later in the evening, Mr Anderson also expressed his concern over other elements in the pub's application. "They've applied for all sorts of things, including dance performance, whatever that is. I don't know what that means exactly but I bet it isn't Swan Lake." The new owners of the premises have been quick to point out that they are a "responsible" company and that the pub would not be open until the times applied for on every night of the year. Instead, they say the application is being put forward to allow for greater flexibility and the opportunity to open later on certain occasions. Geoff Baker, business development manager for Shepherd Neame, told The Herald that although they expected the objections, residents have little to worry about. "After reading through the letters of objection and given the history of the pub, I'm surprised there's only 10 objections," he said. "We know what this pub used to be like and my job at the meeting on Monday will be to try to reassure people that there will be no return to that. "We are a family run pub company and we run traditional pubs, one of which is The Lamb in Abbey Street that never gets any complaints against it and is in a very residential area, much like The Plough is. We will be looking to extend that model with this pub." Mr Baker went on to explain that the reason behind the application is not to keep the pub open late every night but to have the opportunity to do so if required. "We want to be able to continue serving people for an hour longer if there is a good crowd of people in the pub or not if there isn't. We want the flexibility that we have in our other pubs. "The principal word that people need to remember is 'responsible' because that's what we are all about and always have been about and there will be no return to irresponsible drinks promotions or anything like that in this pub." The application was due to go before Waverley's licensing sub-committee B on Monday.