A derelict pub has been given the green light to reopen - despite fears over noise and "misogynist" language disturbing its new neighbours.

But tobacco will not taint the air around the Lord Southampton pub in Haverstock after Camden councillors banned smoking outside outright.

A licensing committee agreed a new premises licence for the Southampton Road watering hole - said to have numbered actors Bill Nighy and Pete Postlethwaite among its former regulars - after an application from its freehold owner Milegate.

The pub, which dates back to 1752, was run by landlady Maggie McGrath for some 4O years until she retired in 2016.

It was then bought by Stonegate, with the top floors used as a backpackers hostel until its closure during the Covid lockdown.

While the pub has been empty, Maitland Park has been regenerated with several new homes now close to it, a factor raised by objectors in the committee meeting last Thursday (January 18).

Neighbours highlighted fears about noise, drunkenness, drug taking, "misogynist" language, women's safety and that the pub would be "the last one open" after others nearby closed.

The "framework" opening times - the latest possible - were from 11am to 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, until 12am on Friday and Saturday and 10.30pm on Sunday, with 30 minutes' 'drinking up time'.

Neighbour Stephanie Austera said she moved into her flat when the pub was closed, and says the "character of the neighbourhood" has changed.

She said that she had "real concerns" about feeling safe walking to her front door, adding: "The hours do go beyond what is necessary and appropriate for this area."

Another objector, Paul Reynolds, asked for earlier closing times, saying the was pub was "a derelict mess".

"It looks like cheapest, horriblest late-night drinking den," he added.

Heather Roberts took issues with outside tables and chairs, warning children would hear "snippets of misogynist language" from the pub's clientele.

Representing Milegate, licensing lawyer Paul Warne said: "Let's start on the basis that people are good and decent people, including people who go to pubs."

He acknowledged the recent past, saying a new operator would open a "community pub", with Milegate possibly building flats above it, and assured the meeting there would be proper management plans and dispersal policies.

"This will go back to what it was before," he added.

The opening times were accepted, but the original proposed conditions would have allowed drinking and smoking outside by the tables and chairs until 10pm, with just smoking after this.

However, councillors Richard Olszewski and Sylvia McNamara, who led the meeting, cited "serious concerns" about noise, and also that people going outside to smoke gave drink spikers a window of opportunity.

Cllr Olszewski asked if the operator would consider there being "zero smokers" outside.

"We tend not to go for the zero number," Mr Warne said. "People have a right to smoke, to tell them they can't come back in will only cause issues."

He had said he disliked setting "arbitrary numbers" because "four people being loud and obnoxious is much worse than 15 people being quiet."

But Cllr Olszewski said: "My proposal is no smokers at all, no smokers at any time outside the premises."