The trustees pulled the application before Thursday's hearing, which is now cancelled. Sixteen residents objected. Police, fire and environmental health did not.

A bid to extend Croft Hall’s licence into its grounds has been dropped, and the hearing set for this morning has been cancelled.

West Berkshire Council’s licensing sub-committee was due to sit at 10.45am on Thursday 3 September to decide the application. The council’s meeting record now carries the meeting under the heading “(Application Withdrawn), Licensing Sub-Committee - Thursday 3 September 2026 10.45 am, CANCELLED”.

The application, reference 30014, was made by the Trustees of the Croft Hall and had drawn 16 objections from residents. Not one responsible authority objected.

What the hall already has, and what it wanted to add

This mattered less than the objections suggested, because Croft Hall has been licensed for years. Its current premises licence, number 014201, already permits plays, films, live music, recorded music, dance and other similar entertainment from 9am to 11pm every day, and the sale of alcohol from 11am to 11.30pm, with the premises open until 12.30am and until 3am on New Year’s Eve.

The catch is one word that appears against every entertainment line on that licence: indoors.

The variation would have changed four things:

  • taken plays, live music, recorded music and dance outdoors, with outdoor activity stopping at 9.30pm
  • added late night refreshment from 11pm to 11.30pm
  • named indoor sporting events, and book and poetry readings, neither of which the current licence lists by name, though it does carry a catch-all for “other similar entertainment”
  • brought alcohol sales back half an hour, from 11.30pm to 11pm

The last of those is worth pausing on. The application as reported would have tightened the alcohol hours the hall already holds, not extended them.

Table comparing Croft Hall's current premises licence 014201 with the withdrawn variation, line by line for plays, films, music, dance, sport, readings, late night refreshment and alcohol
Graphic by The Newbury Times. Source: West Berkshire Council licensing sub-committee report and Appendix C, meeting of 3 September 2026

The committee report says the trustees told the council the events they had in mind were weddings, private celebrations and community events. It puts the building’s capacity at 140 for dancing, 70 seated restaurant style, 100 for a mix of the two and 160 closely seated, and notes that on-site parking is “provided for a small number of vehicles”.

Sixteen objections, and no objection from any authority

The 28-day consultation ran from 8 July to 5 August 2026. Blue notices went up at the premises and were checked by a Public Protection Partnership officer, and the application was advertised in the Hungerford & Marlborough Adviser on 23 July. Ward members and Hungerford Town Council were emailed on 10 July.

Sixteen valid representations came back from residents. A seventeenth, from the nursery, arrived late and was not considered, though officers noted it was available to members if wanted.

Officers grouped the concerns under three of the four licensing objectives:

  • public nuisance: noise from amplified music, outdoor events and guest activity, and late-night disturbance as guests disperse
  • public safety: the risk of restricting access for emergency vehicles
  • protection of children from harm: exposing children to alcohol, and to smoking and vaping

The responsible authorities took a different view. Thames Valley Police, the fire authority, environmental health on public nuisance and trading standards all recorded no objection. Planning enforcement, the Health and Safety Executive, the children’s safeguarding board, public health, the Home Office and the licensing authority itself made no response at all.

Two points objectors could not win on

The report is blunt about the limits of what a licensing sub-committee is allowed to weigh, and both points are worth knowing before writing to the council about any premises.

Parking is not a licensing matter. Officers wrote that the parking concerns raised about The Croft are “understandably important to local residents, however, they do not generally fall within the scope of the four licensing objectives”. The report redirects those to the council’s report a problem service and its highways parking form.

Some outdoor music does not need a licence at all. The report notes that under the Deregulation Act 2015 the premises could in some circumstances operate outdoors until 11pm without a licence, which is later than the 9.30pm cut-off the trustees had themselves proposed.

What it means for you

Nothing changes at Croft Hall. Licence 014201 stands exactly as it was: indoor entertainment to 11pm, alcohol to 11.30pm, the premises open to 12.30am.

If you objected, there is nothing further to do and no decision to appeal, because no decision was made. A withdrawn application is not a refused one. The trustees are free to apply again, and a fresh application would restart the whole process: a new 28-day consultation, new blue notices at the premises, a new advertisement in a local paper, and a new chance to write in.

Two things are worth doing if you want to keep track. Watch for blue notices on the hall and for licensing adverts in the local paper, because those are the formal notice and the clock starts from them. And if a future application concerns you, frame your representation around the four licensing objectives, which are the prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance, public safety and the protection of children from harm. Officers can only consider points that fall inside them.

The next licensing meeting in the diary is the Licensing Committee on Monday 7 September at 4.30pm at the Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury.

Croft Hall stands on the site of Hungerford’s Free Grammar School, which ran from 1635 to 1884. The present building was paid for by Sir William Pearce of Chilton Lodge and built by J.H. Wooldridge & Sons of the Wharf in Hungerford. It was originally called Church House and included accommodation for the curate and the caretaker; those first-floor rooms are offices today.

Sources

We do not name people who objected. Objectors’ representations are published by the council in redacted form and are linked from the meeting page above.

More Hungerford and West Berkshire coverage: planning applications, bin collection days, council tax bands and parking in Newbury.