Sliema pub opens too late

Can the Commerce Department in Lascaris justify the extension of opening times for pubs in residential areas like Depiro Street, Sliema? A pub there opens from 8 p.m. to 3.30 a.m. every day of the week except Monday.

Some 300 residents of Depiro Street and Manuel Dimech Street are sick and tired of the noise pollution, shouting, blaspheming, car door banging, horn hooting, illegal parking in front of garage doors and cars parked the wrong way on pavements.

The police, when informed of all these illegalities, just shrug their shoulders, saying the bar has a permit to operate till late. It is not their problem, neither that of the Sliema local council - it is not interested in its citizens' peace of mind and hours of rest. Election time will be payback time. The Sliema residents will look to the party who will defend their rights.

The pub in question should not use the open porch, supposedly to keep smokers from polluting the inside of the pub which creates pollution and noise in the rest of the street. It should enclose the open porch and make it soundproof as required by law.

We, the citizens of Depiro Street and lower Manuel Dimech Street, are fed up. It is time for a review of the closing time of such pubs. They must be made to close at 11 p.m. for the benefit of residents.