A landlord has promised to bar drunk troublemakers who wreak havoc in the town centre after extending his pub’s opening hours to 6am.

Historic High Wycombe nightspot, The Antelope, will be able to serve drinks until the very early hours of the morning now after a new licence was agreed by Wycombe District Council.

Concerns over noise and fears of anti-social behaviour spilling into the High Street were all taken into account according to owner Mark Adkins, as he says he hopes the move will boost the town’s nightlife.

READ MORE HERE: Town centre pub's opening hours extended to 6am

The Antelope, in Church Square, will now stay open later than all other pubs and clubs in High Wycombe at weekends, with the current landlord admitting he did not want to cause problems for the police by kicking out customers at the same time as other businesses.

He said: “The last thing you want is lots of different pubs and clubs kicking people out on the same time.

“You then get a large number of people who have nowhere to go onto the street, wanting to go somewhere else or queue for a taxi. It would cause friction.

“I didn’t want to cause the police problems with throwing people out at the same times as all the other pubs and clubs by getting a licence to close around 4am.

“And we’ve said anyone who causes trouble inside or outside will be barred.”

The former doorman took over The Antelope in January 2015 amid fears the historic pub could be forced to close down forever.

Having previously closed every night at 2am, the pub will now remain open until 3am on weeknights and 6am on Friday and Saturday nights, with members of the public allowed to stay until closing at weekends if they enter before 2am.

Bar staff from other town centre establishments – provided they are on an approved list – will be given entry up until 6am.

Concerns over noise were taken into account as part of the licencing bid, but the “issues” of a few years ago appear to have disappeared, according to Mr Adkins.

He said: “I understand there were a large number of complaints between 2010/11 to 2014, but that’s not happened since I’ve been here.

“We’ve had no complaints about noise at all and we will continue to turn our speakers off at 2am – the same time as the old closing.”

The landlord is hopeful the new opening hours will help his business and High Wycombe’s nightlife, adding that he would welcome a nightclub returning to the town.

Staff at The Antelope celebrated their “best ever weekend” under new ownership over the bank holiday.

Mr Adkins said: “We were struggling before with people wanting to stay at The Antelope, but leaving to go to somewhere like O’Neill’s, Yates’ and Butlers because we had to close.

“A lot of people were saying we wouldn’t be busy enough to warrant it, but at close we had about 30 people left to the end and we think that will grow.”