Pub at centre of dispute amid claims drinkers urinate outside and intimidate neighbours

People have been seen “urinating” outside a pub which is the centre of dispute with its neighbours, a council licensing committee has heard. It comes after Ross Perkins, landlord at Clwb Ruperra in Trethomas, Caerphilly borough, asked locals to sign his petition following a neighbour's complaint to the council about noise coming from the pub late at night.

It was followed by a number of other letters from some neighbours and their relatives about disruption associated with the venue. According to public documents on the council's website there have been a number of complaints about the pub in Navigation Street including over noise from patrons, noise from an extractor fan, and alleged anti-social behaviour.

However speaking to Pulse Media earlier this week Mr Perkins insisted the pub was a well-respected institution at the heart of the community which is relied upon by many. 

A licensing and gambling sub-committee meeting took place in relation to the dispute to assess whether changes should be made to the venue’s operating hours.

The pub currently operates on an old licence and can open between the hours of 9am and 1am but the closure time could be cut to 11.30pm with last orders at 11pm.

Committee chair councillor Shane Williams heard representations from a nearby resident called Ms Preece.

She told the committee she lives next door to the premises and had experienced a number concerning incidents associated with it including “intimidation” and people “urinating” in the vicinity.

She explained she had lived at the property for around 20 years and had known of incidents at the former premises before it was taken over by its current owners. However she said these weren't regular. “We have never faced the disruption and intrusion that we have in the last year,” she said.

She said the owner told her to begin with the premises was going to be run as a community pub but that hadn’t been reflected in practice.

She described one occasion when she had received an intimidating phone call from the current licence holder following complaints her family had made as well as “witch hunt” social media posts which circulated on the venue’s social media accounts.

The chair asked if things were "on a different scale" with the new premises, which she agreed with.

She said on one occasion she witnessed a patron urinating on her gate while she was walking home with her young daughter one evening at about 6pm.

On another occasion she said she was in her garden with her daughter when she saw another patron urinating outside the premises.

Giving his representations to the chair PC Jonathan Taylor of Gwent Police said officers were called to an incident outside the pub on November 5.

He told the meeting: “It was reported at [10.12pm] and the caller heard shouting and screaming going on, gang in [the] car park that had come from the club.”

However he went on to tell the hearing that based on the evidence he had seen, he wouldn’t describe Navigation Street as a “known hotspot” to the police.

Reading from his log he said that two of the incidents recorded showed “due diligence from the premises”.

He said they showed this by proactively calling the police when an incident arose. This included one incident in February 2025 when a member of door staff was allegedly assaulted and another on April 17 when staff reported a banned male.

“We don’t consider this a black mark against the premises – we encourage premises if they cannot manage a situation to call police,” he said. “I wouldn’t call this a high-demand area or premises.”

Rhian Cross of Trading Standards said while the team “have not had any previous engagement with the licence-holder directly" they "fully support the review application brought forward by environmental health" and they “share the same concerns as the licensing authority".

She said Mr Perkins seems "relatively inexperienced” and said he “did not appear to have day-to-day control of the premises prior to this review”.

Mr Perkins told the committee "we have turned the club around" with very limited funding. He said the venue had done a lot for the community. "It's a busy place – we understand that,” he said.

He said from his perspective the accusation that management were not running the club correctly was untrue, adding: "There have been issues but we have addressed them."

He said CCTV had been put in place and staff had undertaken training. In addition he said benches from the smoking area had been removed while regular checks are carried out around the perimeter of the pub and the smoking area to reduce noise.

Ms Preece accepted improvements had been made but stressed these had only been noticeable since December which she described as at a “late stage”.

The sub-committee retired to consider the representations made. The outcome will be circulated within five working days, it was heard.