A PUB landlord has been fined £2,200 after “losing control” when an unexpected influx of youngsters led to a large crowd of people congregating outside the premises on New Year’s Eve.

William Arthur Davies, 73, of the Ffostrasol Arms, pleaded guilty to failing to get more than 100 people to disperse from the outside of the premises and to allowing people to leave the premises while carrying glasses and bottles.

He also admitted four technical breaches of his licence by failing to display a summary of his licence, failing to display signs asking customers to leave quietly, failing to provide weekly fire safety check documents and failing to notify Ceredigion council of a change of address for the premises licence-holder.

Other charges, including the sale of alcohol to underage people and allowing youngsters to be on the premises unaccompanied, were dismissed.

District Judge David Parsons said there had been a “serious breakdown” of management at the Ffostrasol Arms on New Year’s Eve, but said he accepted that an “unexpected” number of people had turned up on the night.

Prosecutor Kevin Challinor said police had seen a “large number of youths” outside the pub as they were travelling to another incident on New Year’s Eve.

While returning, the officers again saw a large crowd of people and stopped to speak to Davies.

Davies told officers that he had “lost control” and said he would close the bar, but Mr Challinor said Davies had needed police assistance to close the bar and deal with the large number of people.

Alan Lewis, defending, said Davies, who was the licensee of the pub but has since relinquished that role, had never been in trouble over licensing breaches during his 22 years with the pub and said he had been expecting a quiet evening until the youngsters attended the pub.

He said Davies accepted that he had lost control when such a large number of people turned up and accepted that he had been unable to stop customers going outside with glasses and bottles.

The other four offences were technical breaches of licensing conditions, with Mr Lewis saying those issues had now been addressed.

Mr Lewis said the pub was considered a “community hub” and said Davies had been provided with references from neighbours and the local vicar.