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Planning bosses have given city centre bar Baker Street the go-ahead to open a beer garden until as late as 3.30am.

But the owners of Baker Street in Preston have been told they must erect two-metre high acoustic barriers around it to prevent noise disturbing nearby residents.

The bar, in Avenham Street, has been granted temporary permission for three years to turn the vacant land into a seating area for up to 88 people.

Two neighbours wrote letters of objection to the proposal saying an outdoor drinking area would have "an unacceptable impact on residential amenity via noise generation."

The disused car park next to the Baker Street bar will seat up to 88 drinkers.

Yet council officers decided it would not cause a disturbance if specialist sound insulation measures were taken to contain the noise generated by customers. They ruled that no music of any kind can be played in the garden area, nor TV and radio.

The land was last used as a private car park. Before that it was occupied by seven terraced houses. The land is over the road from hotel rooms above Angelo's Restaurant.

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The proposed opening hours would be Monday to Thursday 6pm-11pm, Friday 3pm-3:30am, Saturday noon-3:30am and Sunday noon-10pm.

The owners of the Baker Street bar have been ordered to build an acoustic barrier around the beer garden.

Preston Council's environmental health department said it had no objections to the creation of the drinking area as long as it was enclosed by acoustic barriers of at least two-metres tall facing Avenham Street at the front and Old Cock Yard at the rear.

Officers recommended: "It should only be used by patrons for the purpose of drinking and that no additional noise source should be added or used in the beer garden.

"This includes that there should be no entertainment provided, no live or recorded music, whether it be electrically amplified or not, (and) no audible broadcast by TV, radio etc."

As a result the planning authority gave permission for outdoor drinking saying: "The proposed change of use is not considered to have an unacceptable impact upon residential amenity, visual amenity and highway safety."

There has been a pub next to the site for more than 200 years. It was originally called the Garth's Arms, then the Duke of Windsor and has had an assortment of other names including Maguire's Tavern, Gaston's, New City Bar, Villa R&B Bar, before becoming Baker Street in 2019.

Baker Street: bar in Preston gets go-ahead to open new beer garden until 3.30am