Watch: Residents and restaurant applicants face each other in battle over Shrewsbury tapas bar plan

On the passionate residents' side were two rooms full of objectors who want to be able to live their lives in peace and quiet - with one room filled with people viewing proceedings live and Shropshire Council's chamber at Shirehall watching via a live stream.

On the other side were the powers behind the hugely successful Dough & Oil and Oil businesses who say that they are willing to compromise but they do represent a vision of the the future of the town.

Aaron Brown, the Dough & Oil entrepreneur, wants to use a part of the The Parade Shopping Centre at St Mary's Place for a new Mexican tapas bar. It would use part of the terrace behind the building. He has the support of the landlords to do that in a bid to attract more customers to the venue.

A large community of residents lives above the businesses and in the quiet area at the back of St Mary's Church.

And in passionate and emotional speeches at a Shropshire Council licensing sub-committee meeting, residents spoke of not being able to sleep because of all the worry.

Stephen Lederer, who overlooks the site, said the prospect of noisy customers eating and drinking and chatting on the terrace "terrifies us".

"It has kept me awake at night worrying. What makes Shrewsbury special is the islands of calm," he said.

"We have managed to protect the town's peaceful places. Often the loudest noise is the birdsong."

He claimed that the terrace site "looms over us like an amphitheatre" and would be a "brutal assault" on the calm of the area.

"Our mental health is at risk."

Other residents during the near two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Wednesday appealed to the three councillors on the licensing sub-committee to side with them.

Some 79 objections had originally been lodged with six withdrawn after the applicants made concessions.

Liz Harrison, who lives four floors above the application site, admitted that she was "very emotional" about the issue and had already experienced noise levels "above acceptable" when hearing "screaming and shouting" from the site before it is even open.

Her claims that the applicant's staff were "singing at high volume" and shouting "FU, FU, FU" in an "intimidating" manner" when she was recording them, were denied by the business.

"The lack of respect does not bode well for the future," she said.

But Mr Brown denied her claim that he had "chosen to lie" instead of apologising.

He said: "This was not us at all."