A BRAND new JD Wetherspoon pub will not open in Wirral this month, as was originally planned.

The Prense Well, at 1-5 The Mount in Heswall, was supposed to open on May 17, but today JD Wetherspoon confirmed this opening date has been delayed.

A spokesperson for the pub chain said there was not a “major reason” for the delay and that opening dates are always subject to change. The spokesperson said the Heswall pub is a big project and sometimes such projects get delayed by a few weeks.

The plan is now to open the pub on June 28. The pub, which will create 50 jobs according to JD Wetherspoon, had been a source of controversy locally with a residents group worried about the late night noise it could lead to.

Originally, the pub chain had wanted to open until 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 00.30am for the rest of the week, but this was opposed by many in Heswall. The Heswall Society, which has around 450 members, was not in favour.

Speaking last January, its planning officer Roger Lane said: “There are many residential properties very close by, and we believe from a protracted history of noise issues that this would affect them quite badly.”

But in the end JD Wetherspoon applied for shorter opening hours, from 9am until 11.30pm with alcohol to be served until 11pm, and had its proposal passed by Wirral Council’s Licensing Committee.

The pub will be called The Prense Well. Last December, a spokesperson for JD Wetherspoon explained why it chose this name.

They said: “The Hessle Well was one of the village’s many wells. A plaque on the boundary wall of Hessle Well House states that the well closed in 1891.

“Heswall was also served by the Pin Well, Lightfoot Well, Rosebank Well, Bank House Well and Far Well. The Penns or Prense Well seems to have been one of the main wells.

“It was sited on Telegraph Road, little more than a stone’s throw from the former Exchange Bar, on what is now the forecourt of Costa Coffee and Domino’s Pizza.”