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A ‘high-end’ Hove gin bar hoping to move to Worthing has been granted a premises licence after conditions were agreed with Sussex Police, including hours and crime prevention measures.

The Gin Tub plans to open at 10 High Street – an old church building that was converted into a public house more than 30 years ago.

In May, the venue was acquired by Saints & Sinners Bar & Club Limited, which will eventually share the venue, with The Gin Tub taking over the smaller unit that used to be a craft alehouse.

Although the venue is already licensed, The Gin Tub successfully applied for its own separate premises licence.

Planned new home for The Gin Tub, the former craft alehouse on the left, with the grey doors

It has been granted permission to serve alcohol between 11am and 12.30pm Monday to Wednesday, and 11am to 1.30am Thursday to Sunday.

Sussex Police and Worthing Pubwatch initially objected to the licence but later removed their objections after agreeing a number of conditions with the venue.

But because five members of the public objected, the request had to be considered by the council’s licensing sub-committee, which met on Tuesday, October 4.

The Gin Tub’s Hove venue had its licence revoked in 2019 after cocaine was found in the toilets.

The licence has since been reinstated on appeal but one Worthing resident said this concerned her.

She said: “The area behind the premises which I live in, with the exception of a few guest houses, is residential and it’s a designated conservation area.

“It’s quiet and there is a sense of enclosure so a late night premises such as the proposed Gin Tub bar – which is open seven nights a week until the early hours of the morning – is disruptive in terms of both noise and the potential increase in anti-social behaviour due to late night drinking.”

Gin Tub director Francesca Green, who would be the designated premises supervisor (DPS) at the Worthing venue, reassured her that the business ‘had changed’. She said: “We have really good training and we have a really well-trained team that we’ll bring with us to Worthing.”

Stephen Guille, director of Brighton Bars Limited said: “I think we’re going to improve the area as opposed to be detrimental to the area.”

The licensing decision was published today.

The Gin Tub: Hove gin bar granted new Worthing premises licence after conditions agreed with Sussex Police