A PUB which has come under fire for claims of drug dealing has been given permission to stay open for longer.

The Victoria on Norcot Road will now be able to serve alcohol until midnight, despite criticism from Thames Valley Police over inadequate bathroom checks for drug use.

Reading Borough Council's Licensing Applications Committee rejected the original proposal of manager Mike King to stay open until 1am on week days due to the public house being in a residential area.

PC Simon Wheeler from Thames Valley Police said: "It is believed that some individuals are dealing in drugs.

"The premises has been swabbed for drug usage with positive results, in most cases this has been cocaine usage with 50 per cent of the readings being medium to high.

"We undertook our inspection of the premises and found an inadequate process for toilet checks and training for staff to deal with these kinds of problems."

Piers Warne, representing Punch Taverns, said The Victoria currently has to turn away customers, who are forced to venture into the town centre to carry on drinking.

Anti-social behaviour at the pub in June last year resulted in two people being barred after a fight broke out, but Mr Warne argued the number of incidents since then has been low.

Toilet checks are now documented and surfaces within the toilet have been greased to attempt to stop people from taking drugs.

Councillor Paul Woodward, chair of the Licensing Applications Committee, agreed to allow the owners to serve alcohol until midnight all week, but suggested hiring more staff to ensure regular checks can be carried out.

He added: "The Committee believes The Victoria Public House is in a primarily residential area and allowing you to stay open until 1am on weekdays would be unfair on the community.

"We will vary the application to allow you to serve alcohol and have live music, dancing and similar performances until midnight.

"We agree with the recommendation from Thames Valley Police regarding documentation of toilet checks and we would support a CCTV arrangement to monitor these checks."