OPINIONS are divided over whether permission should be granted to put on monthly live music at a village restaurant.

Objectors are concerned that the entertainment proposed for the Old Bakehouse will ruin the peace at tranquil West Linton.

They are also worried that the conservation village will be choked with traffic when the music finishes and parking will be at a premium.

But other community members are happy to support the plan - as long as noise is carefully monitored and entertainment only takes place once a month.

Carol and Iain Smith are applying to Scottish Borders Council for a licence to stage life performances at the popular restaurant in Main Street.

Mrs Smith insisted the plan was to only have a music act on one Saturday a month - even though on the application form she ticked the box asking for a licence that also applied outwith normal restaurant hours.

“It seems to be causing a lot of concern that people think we want this out of our normal hours,” she told West Linton Community Council on Monday. “I can say that is not the case - we only want to have music once a month on a Saturday night between 9.30pm and 11pm.” The restaurant was packed on the two occasions the Edinburgh band Spring Heeled Jack played there - the last time being on Saturday, May 9.

Community council secretary Graham Tulloch said: “This is very much in a residential area and the music from this rock and roll band could be heard in every room of the house close by where children were sleeping.

“There also has to be a concern about the sudden egress of patrons at the end of the night into a residential area.

“The Bakehouse is attached to another property and is in close proximity to other properties and I am minded not to support this application.” In response, Mrs Smith said: “We are going to get somebody in to check the decibel levels and are determined to try to keep the noise down.

“We don’t want to upset our neighbours - but we want to put on the music as it’s a way of bringing in more business.

“It’s not going to be just rock and roll, we are also hoping to have country and western.” Neighbour Oliver Peppe told the meeting he might be prepared to accept the application if noise levels were kept down - and there were guarantees that it was only going to be once a month.

“I just wonder how much this will set a precedent - but if it was only once a month that there was a live performance that people could enjoy that might not be a bad thing,” he said.

“I want the Bakehouse to succeeed and I am not against the licensing application but the noise needs to be at a reasonable level.” Community council member Ian Crozier lives just 60 metres away from the restaurant and said he would not object to musical entertainment one night a month. Other members of the council backed him with the proviso that the music stopped by 11pm.

Tweeddale West councillor Willie Archibald, convener of the licensing board, said the application by the Old Bakehouse was likely to be considered at the panel’s meeting on Friday, July 24.

He told community councillors that stringent checks would be made - and that soundproofing might be necessary - before a licence was granted. He added that the Police could ask for a review at any time.