Bosses at a town centre bar hoping to extend their opening hours say they would stop "any potential trouble at the door".

An application has been put in to extend the sale of alcohol at weekends up to 3am instead of the present 1am for Rhino & Bull's in King Street, Dover.

It comes weeks after nearby Attic Bar had to cut back on its newly-won extra hours after two reports of affray which are being investigated by police.

But Carl Ambrose, co-owner of Rhino & Bull's said its two doormen will keep troublemakers out.

He said: "We are very strict as to who we let in - we have a dress code and we even have an over-21s policy.

"We will always have two doormen to turn people away when necessary.

"If you stop any potential trouble at the door it doesn't happen at all."

He explained that the application had been a business decision as his bar was losing customers to other nearby premises that were open later.

Mr Ambrose and joint boss Kayley Bull, under the Licensing Act 2003, have applied to Dover District Council for a variation of a premises licence at the cocktail bar.

This is to sell alcohol until 3am on Fridays and Saturday extending the venue's current licence time by two hours and the same for playing recorded music.

The licensees also want to enable the sale of alcohol and provision of live music for an extra two hours on Bank Holidays.

They also want the removal of the condition that recorded music should be played at background level only, must be incidental to the consumption of food and alcohol so that people can talk without raising their voices.

“It is something this town needs. There is usually no trouble around here at night..."

People who KentOnline spoke to did not object to the application.

Ryan McKenna said: “Dover needs it, people want to go out on the town at night. What we have at the moment is restricting.”

Daniel Meakin said: “It is something this town needs. There is usually no trouble around here at night.”

Shopkeeper Neil Wiggins, co-owner of the Oriental Mini Mart in Market Square, said: “It wouldn't affect me.

"I close at 7pm before someone gets drunk and open at 9am when they have recovered.

“But I think it might affect the residents in the area.”

Just this month, a decision was made forcing the Attic Bar in nearby Church Street to close earlier following two reports of affray just months after its opening hours were extended.

The alleged violence happened last December and January with the extended hours granted last November.

But on March 3, after a licensing review, DDC ruled that the sale of alcohol would have to stop at 11.45pm, instead of 3am on Thursday nights.

Alcohol must not be served after 3am on Friday and Saturday nights – an hour earlier than the previous 4am closing time – while music must finish at 3.30am.

Residents in flats directly opposite the nightclub, Stembrook Court, spoke out against the late licence last autumn.

Rhino & Bull's opened in December 2019 following a £10,000 Town Centre Business Grant from DDC.

Public consultation on its current application ends on April 13.

A register of licensing applications can be inspected at dover.gov.uk