Closed after landlord booted out.

A PUB was closed down and its landlord booted out after complaints.

Neighbours said their lives were made hell because of regulars at the Hillheads pub, on Counden Road, Westerhope.

And child protection bosses raised concerns about youngsters being allowed to play around the premises unsupervised while their parents drank inside.

Operator Trust Inns has voluntarily closed the pub and removed the landlord from the premises after a complaint to Newcastle City Council.

Councillors on the licensing sub committee agreed to strip the former landlord from the licence to ensure he could not return to run the pub again. They also imposed a condition that no children would be allowed on the premises after 9pm. A neighbour living on Downend Road said she and her husband had their garden fence smashed by drunken punters emerging from the pub.

She said: "We have had a continuous problem with bottles and glasses being thrown into our garden and regularly have to clear up broken glass.

"Customers wander round the streets with their glasses and bottles in their hands, and once finished they discard their glasses on our street."

Sue Kirkley, co-ordinator at the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board, said the fact that children being allowed on the premises as part of the "normal operation" of the pub left them open to risk of harm.

Trust Inns was contacted by the Chronicle but did not want to comment.

CAPTION(S):

SHUT: The Hillheads pub on Counden Road, Westerhope