GETTING the applications in was the easy bit.

Now City of York Council faces the real challenge: deciding which pubs can open later, and for how long.

Many licensed premises are seeking permission to open into the small hours when Britain's drinking laws are liberalised in November.

For nearly every publican hoping to serve later, there are residents who object to the idea.

Tonight we report the opposition from some neighbours of the Tap & Spile on Monkgate to its plan to stay open until midnight and 1am.

The landlady argues that this is a quiet real ale pub with older customers who want the freedom to sup a pint later at night. Residents fear more noise and disruption from drunken revellers.

It is now up to the council to make a judgement.

This is how it should be.

One of the advantages of the new law is that it places the control of pubs into the hands of councillors: people who live in the areas affected, and who are accountable to residents and businesses alike.

With reports of drink-fuelled violence appearing all too regularly in these pages, members of the council's licensing committee would be right to take a generally guarded approach to the issuing of late licences.

But they should also judge each establishment on its record, heeding the counsel of York police.

Updated: 10:30 Monday, August 15, 2005