An oxford teacher worried about late-night drinking at a pub near his city centre home was told by council officers that his views were not relevant.

Tim Bradshaw, 50, who lives in St Giles, Oxford, was alarmed when he discovered a notice telling people living near the Duke of Cambridge, in Little Clarendon Street, that moves were being made to extend its licensing hours to 1am.

Bar owner Julian Rosser said his premises were not the cause of disturbances and insisted residents in Little Clarendon Street had no objections to later opening hours.

But having suffered from what he describes as the "Asbo culture" rife in the area, Mr Bradshaw contacted Oxford City Council to register his objection to the proposed extension.

His letter was acknowledged and he was invited to attend a licensing authority panel on July 12 to speak against the plan.

Three days later, a second letter arrived telling him he did not qualify as "an interested party", even though he and his wife live just 300 yards from the pub.

He accused the council of incompetence and insisted he had every right to make his views known. Mr Bradshaw said: "We paced it out, and the pub is just 300 paces away.

"St Giles seems to be a place to congregate for people who've drunk too much. Windows are regularly broken, shouting wakes up residents, with no visible policing and -- even in Big Brother's era of social control -- no CCTVs at all."

Mr Bradshaw will now be allowed to attend the licensing hearing. A spokesman for Oxford City Council admitted the error and apologised.

She said: "There is a large amount of paperwork that is going through the licensing office at the moment and mistakes will happen under these circumstances.

"We have tried to contact Mr Bradshaw about this licensing issue and it would have been nice to talk to him directly before he went to the press."

Mr Rosser, who has owned the Duke of Cambridge since 1997, said: "The only reason a hearing is being held is because he has made this objection, and yet if his address is in St Giles, my feeling is that he's is getting disturbance from people coming from the city centre, not our premises.

"We are not a pub, we're a bar selling beer at £3.20 a bottle as well as cocktails at £5.

"We will have a notice up by the door asking people to be quiet when they leave, and we will have a noise limiter decreasing sound levels after 11pm."