THE former landlords of the Swan Hotel have been fined £1,237 for playing music at the venue without a licence.

Paul Convey and Paula Martin were also banned from playing music at any premises after playing tracks on a CD player and jukebox without a licence.

The former proprietors of the Swan Street hotel, who were not present and were not represented, were fined £1,237 to be paid within 14 days after the case at London's High Court.

They have been banned from playing music at any premises until the licences are brought up to date and disobeying the order will constitute contempt of court, punishable with a fine up to £10,000 and up to two years in prison.

The order was imposed by Mr Justice Mann after he heard they had been caught playing music at the premises when they did not hold a Performing Rights Society (PRS) licence.

The judge was told by counsel for PRS, Victoria Jones, that one of their inspectors had called at the premises and heard numbers including Lady In Red, Search For The Hero and She's The One, even though no licence was in force.

But the Swan's new landlord has assured guests the music will play on.

Ray Birrell told the Chronicle he had taken over from the Conveys with his partner Wendy Woodall and they had already made sure all their licences were up to date.

"We have been on to the courts and checked everything is in place, including the PRS," he said.

"We hire the juke box and we pay the license fee in with the hire, and the CD player is hired from a company that is completely above board - there is absolutely no danger of the music being stopped."