Town centre residents are concerned over plans to extend a pub's opening hours until 2am.

The owners of the Fathom and Firkin in Chapel Road, Worthing, are applying to stay open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

They also want to open until midnight for the rest of the week - but people living in Chapel Road fear that would just mean more noise and disturbance.

The pub wants permission to stage late night events in the run-up to Christmas and New Year.

But residents living nearby say they already put up with noise and disturbance from the area's many pubs and allowing another to open late will make things worse.

There are already three pubs in Chapel Road and a fourth, Wetherspoons, opens next month.

The Fathom and Firkin is currently undergoing major renovation work and unveils its new look in mid-November.

Resident Michael James, of nearby Ambrose Place, said: "This is becoming an increasingly ridiculous situation.

"All these pubs are opening up and naturally they are competing with each other and doing everything they can to make sure they can stay open late and attract customers.

"Things should never have been allowed to get to this stage. We don't need all these pubs so close together and the council should have refused permission for them when they had the chance.

"It's a town centre so you expect to have some noise but this is too much. We are the ones who are having to put up with the consequences of the council's actions."

A Worthing Council spokesman said residents had until November 10 to submit their views on the application.

He said he understood concerns about disruption but everything was being done to minimise disturbance. Pubs had to stick to strict noise guidelines which were regularly monitored.