Fears have been raised about the number of bars in Whiteladies Road in Clifton applying to open into the early hours of the morning.

City councillor Neil Harrison has issued a warning after several venues applied to stay open later and believes residents will suffer if they are given the green light.

The latest application was submitted by BSB bar, but its bid to extend its opening hours from midnight until 2am was rejected by the city council's licensing committee last week.

Sasparilla, formerly Henry Africa's Hothouse, has also applied to extend its opening hours to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Seventy objections have been made against Vanity opening as a new nightspot in the former Odeon cinema building and the city council are investigating problems with noise linked with Platform 1 nightlcub.

Liberal Democrat Mr Harrison, who objected to the BSB application on behalf of a resident living in his Cotham ward, said: "At the moment, there are only two bars on Whiteladies Road with licenses beyond midnight and one of these is currently under investigation because of the nuisance it is causing to local residents.

"The problem is that Whiteladies is a residential area and some people leaving the bars do things which can make residents' lives a misery - shouting, littering, causing damage, starting fights and so on.

"Extending the ability of bars in the area to open and sell alcohol beyond midnight would worsen an already bad problem, which the police don't have the resources to deal with.

"The BSB application was rejected but the problem is that there are other applications in the pipeline from the surrounding bars - if you let one have a later licence, they will all want one and the nuisance will multiply."

Whiteladies Road has been designated as a Cumulative Impact Area, which are designed to stop more licensed premises opening or extending their trading hours in spots where they are already clustered together.

For permission to open or extend hours at a licensed premises in these zones, the applicant needs to prove they are offering something significantly different to what's already there.

Mr Harrison said: "Nuisance is already an issue on Whiteladies Road and if you've got more people around later at night, it's only going to get worse.

"The over-arching reason BSB wasn't given permission was because of the Cumulative Impact Area and the fact that the bar wouldn't be offering anything different."

A spokeswoman for Bristol City Council said: "Particular areas such as Whiteladies Road or the city centre can become saturated with a certain type of premises, making them a focal point for large groups of people that could lead to problems of public nuisance and anti-social behaviour.

"Adopting a cumulative impact policy for an area is a way of preventing this. It means that applications for new licenses or significant changes to existing licences will normally be refused unless the applicant can demonstrate that there will be no additional impact on the area.

"Applicants are still entitled to apply for a licence however it is likely that they will be more favourably considered if they can add a different dimension to the existing entertainment on offer in the area."