PUB bosses have received the green light to open a new craft beer venue in York city centre.

BrewDog Bars was given an alcohol licence by City of York Council on Thursday for the former Portfolio Studios building at 130-134 Micklegate.

The Scottish company will now seek planning permission to transform the building into a 2,500 sq ft bar to hold up to 150 people.

Brewdog's scheme faced opposition from police, the council and some local residents because the site falls inside the Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ)set up to stop alchohol-related anti-social behaviour.

Under the CIZ rules, new applicants have to prove their licence would not have a negative impact on the area.

Before the hearing, North Yorkshire Police withdrew its opposition after Brewdog agreed to some amendments.

These were to have two doormen on duty after 9pm on Friday and Saturday nights and to stop serving alcohol at midnight.

Brewdog can extend that until 1am on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before a Bank Holiday.

Sergeant Matt France, force licensing manager for North Yorkshire Police, said he was now satisfied with the plan.

"We are grateful to the applicant for reducing the hours to midnight," he said.

"From a crime and disorder perspective, there are no issues."

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Brewdog's solicitor Tony Lyons said the company started brewing seven years ago, opened its first bar five years ago and was the UK's fastest growing drinks business.

He said: "Brewdog seek to develop a convivial craft beer bar, which is designed to be educational and for the more mature drinker who has a passion for beer.

"We want to serve the sort of customers who appreciate the beer that we sell. That beer our customers will pay a premium for.

"We don't do happy hours, promotions or TV, but we do do board games.

"A lot of this is about trying to educate people on what we are about in selling craft beer - not to get as much as possible down your neck in as short a time as possible."

Brewdog bar hunter Stephen Hogan stressed the company's often controversial marketing was not reflective of how it ran its pubs.

He said Brewdog's drinks went up as high as 41 per cent of alcohol, but were always served in proportionate size glasses and bottles - 25ml in the case of the former.

"There are no issues going down a size of glass," he said.

"We won't allow people to come in and buy a pint of our 16.5 per cent beer.

Micklegate resident Tim Haunton said: "Micklegate has reached saturation point in terms of alcohol provision.

"Would any of you around this table chose to live in Micklegate and be driven out of your front rooms simply because of misbehaviour and rowdiness on the street?"

City of York Council's licensing hearing approved Brewdog's application provided it stuck to seven conditions concerning noise, litter, the smoking area and skip emptying.