LICENSEES who were ordered to switch off the music at their York pub say they have been unfairly treated.

Kathy and Mike Short, of The Burtonstone Inn, in Clifton, were ordered to stop playing music by a High Court judge last Thursday because they didn't have the right licence.

But the couple say they ARE covered by the right licences and have done nothing wrong. They are continuing to play the music.

The husband-and-wife team, who took over the lease at The Burtonstone Inn in 1998, are now expected to receive a legal costs bill for £1,100.

But Mrs Short, 54, said they would refuse to pay the bill.

"We can't afford to pay the costs. This action should never have been taken in the first place," she said.

The pub has a licence for its jukebox from Leisure Link and a licence for background music from York Coin Leisure. The pub also has a multimedia machine, which plays computer-generated music but Mrs Short said this did not need a licence.

But Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), which issues the music licences, says its inspectors caught the pub playing music, which should have been covered by another licence, for events like discos.

Mrs Short insists the pub has never had a disco.

She said they had received letters from PPL telling them they needed to buy a licence. But every time they wrote to the company to tell them they were properly covered their letters were ignored.

"We have tried to keep everything right and up to date since we took over our first pub in 1974. My husband is Chair of the York Licensed Victuallers' Association. He would never do anything that goes against everything licensing stands for," she said.

The couple now plan to write to PPL again with copies of their licences and they hope this will end the matter.

Gill Drew, of PPL, said the organisation had been trying to contact the Shorts since November last year.

"We have no record of any letters from them. If they had tried to contact us, it would never have ended up in court," she said.

"Court is always a last resort. A High Court judge would not have issued an injunction against them if he was not satisfied that all the proper notices had been served."

Updated: 10:52 Thursday, May 13, 2004