A university has been granted permission to serve late-night alcohol after watering down its application to appease worried neighbouring residents.

But it will now have to stop serving two hours earlier than it used to.

The premises licence for the University for the Creative Arts in New Dover Road, Canterbury, was approved by the city council on Wednesday following the request by the campus’ Students’ Union.

It has taken over the management of the licensable facilities from university bosses - but needed to re-apply for a new permit because the old one had been surrendered rather than being transferred.

Previously permission had been in place for the activities until 2am, which is what the Students’ Union had initially hoped to replicate and applied for.

But that sparked an angry flurry of objections from more than 20 neighbours, mostly in St Augustine’s Road, who feared a surge in anti-social behaviour and disturbance from the campus and surrounding area.

So the Students’ Union modified the proposed hours until midnight, adding other safeguards to support the application.

Speaking for the applicants at the council’s licensing committee meeting, solicitor Stephen Thomas reminded the panel that the UCA had previously held the 2am premises licence for 17 years without any problems before it was surrendered.

“We have substantially modified it and drafted conditions to meet residents’ concerns,” he said.

He said what was being applied for were “very modest hours” with around two events a week.

“This isn’t comparable to a traditional pub,” he added.

The licence will cover the cafe, two theatres and a lecture hall.

Prof Stephen Peckham of the St Augustine’s Road Residents’ Association said that while the reduced hours were welcome, “more recognition was needed that the campus was in a residential area”.

He suggested the committee could restrict the number of events allowed to be held.

That was resisted by Mr Thomas who argued that although it was unlikely there would be more than two or three events a week, the licence needed to be “flexible” to meet demand.

“I’m sure a quiz night or showing a film like Batman is not going to cause a problem,” he added.

But resident Darin Manney claimed previous complaints via email about issues from the campus had not been responded to. He suggested an out-of-hours telephone number was needed.

Mr Thomas said a number of safeguard conditions were being drafted. This includes the campus access to St Augustine’s Road being closed after 8pm, no outdoor drinking or entertainment and fully-trained staff and doormen, as well as CCTV.