Beach hut owners on Mudeford Spit object to Christchurch Harbour Kitchen’s floating bar plans near Beach House restaurant

Furious owners of Britain’s most expensive beach huts are outraged at plans for a floating restaurant off Mudeford Spit claiming it will lead to drunken drinkers polluting the sea by defecating overboard.

There are also fears it will increase anti-social behaviour, lead to people urinating on the beach and “shatter the tranquillity” of the area.

Objectors also say “vertical drinkers” risk injury if the platform moves with the tides and try to swim inebriated back to shore instead of using a gangplank.

Newly formed company Christchurch Harbour Kitchen has applied for an alcohol licence from 8am to 10.30pm for the new attraction anchored near the huts, which sell for up to £500,000 each.

The firm describes the structure as a “bespoke designed floating restaurant which has been engineered and designed to accommodate a kitchen and dining area”.

Measuring 9x9 metres, the motorised bar and eatery will pull up to a mooring each day where customers can access it by a six-metre gantry with a handrail. There will be one toilet onboard.

Drawings attached to the application show it anchored near the Beach House restaurant.

The company also wants to play music from 8am until 11pm. It had originally applied for a drinks licence until 11pm, but after consultation with Dorset Police has now agreed to cut it by half an hour and serve drinks only with food.

Its application is due to be discussed at a meeting of BCP Council’s sub-licensing committee next week, but it has already attracted nearly 40 objections, many from furious beach hut owners.

One stormed: “The consequences of this are disastrous. The patrons of the kitchen whilst on the vessel have no regulation of their alcohol consumption or anywhere to defecate.

“I believe this will lead to excessive inebriation on a vessel on the water and further pollution to an already polluted harbour from defecating overboard.”

Another said: “The toilets cannot take any more footfall. What happens is that people full of alcohol use the beach as a toilet – not a pretty sight for the adults or children.”

A hut owner of over 50 years condemned the application as “fundamentally wrong on a multitude of levels” and showing a “blatant disregard for the environment”.

On Mudeford Spit this week hut owners Nick and Morna Goddard told the A&T: “We are totally against it. We have owned our hut since 1981. This could destroy what is supposed to be an area of natural beauty.”

Morna added: “These huts are used by families. The golden rule round here is that you can play music quietly but not past 10pm, and to be honest we are all in bed early.

“We are very happy the way it is, this area is not for party people.”

Nick said he had heard the restaurant would be serving “fish and chips” adding: “It just shouldn’t be allowed; it has got one toilet on board.

“That is not enough for the amount of people it can seat. We already have trouble with people urinating round the back of the huts if the queues for the toilet are too long.”

Colin and Jennifer, who have had their hut for 25 years, said allowing the bar would be “disastrous”.

Jennifer said: “It is bound to attract noise and anti-social behaviour. This just isn’t the place for it.”

Colin added: “I don’t see how it is going to work; water levels go up and down in that spot which means it would have to keep moving.”

Another beach owner whose family have owned their hut since the 1930s said they feared that, if allowed, the bar would “open the floodgates for more” adding: “If they say yes to this, we could get all party boats all over.”

Environmental Health has also raised concerns about the application saying: “Noise from customers and music played could adversely impact residents living locally, especially if the restaurant travels around Christchurch Harbour and along the river stour, potentially passing close to residential properties.”