A PUB could face closure following fears over crime and drugs.

Bosses at the White Horse, Southchurch, will have their licence reviewed in 11 days time.

Police licensing officers have demanded the hearing take place following concerns over drug taking, crime and public safety.

Maria Fellows, 58, who lives in Hamstel Road, near to the pub, said she was surprised a review has not happened before now.

She said: “It’s ridiculous. Every Friday and Saturday night there is noise.

“I phoned to complain last summer and the woman who answered the phone told me to put my fingers in my ears.

“We have double glazing, but can clearly hear the music.

“My partner is a lorry driver and has to get up at 4am and we hear shouting and screaming, fighting and swearing.”

The pub, on the corner of Southchurch Boulevard and Lifstan Way, was one of a handful of pubs across the borough police visited last year.

A team of 40 officers plus sniffer dogs went to pubs to search for class A drugs.

They started at the White Horse where they arrested a man, 43, from Southend, on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply.

In recent weeks there has been new management at the pub.

However Fiona Wyatt, 49, who lives in a flat next to the pub car park, has no complaints.

She said: “We don’t hear anything much. If there are problems then maybe conditions should be imposed on the licence, but it’s not been a problem for us.”

Southend Council will review the licence at the council offices.

Options open to the committee include doing nothing, changing conditions of the pub’s licence or revoking the licence altogether.

Brian Kelly, a Tory councillor for Southchurch, said he could not comment on the particular hearing as he sits on the council’s licensing committee.

He said: “The pub has been there since the 1920s or 1930s.

“They made an attempt to turn it into an out-of-town nightclub in the past, but it was opposed and refused.

“The committee will consider whatever evidence is before it.”

Troy Bett, area manager for the pub’s owners Orchid Group, is confident the pub will stay open.

He said: “We can reassure readers the White Horse is not closing.

“A new manager, Amiee Johns, started at the White Horse on January 4.

“The wellbeing of staff and customers is Amiee’s primary concern and our vision is to position the White Horse at the centre of the community.”