BRISTOL — The Town Council last night granted an expanded liquor license to Aidan’s Pub despite the objections of the developer behind the Belvedere at Bristol, the pricey residential and commercial project under construction next door.

The council voted unanimously in favor of the license, a decision met by applause from the standing-room only audience in Town Hall that had come out in support of the John Street establishment, a popular local hangout since it opened in 1992.

But it appears the vote, which culminated a three-hour hearing, won’t be the end of the matter. James Roiter, the Newport businessman developing the Belvedere on a downtown block bracketed by Hope and Thames streets, is adamant that noise from the pub will disturb his tenants. He said after the meeting that he will appeal the decision to Superior Court.

Aidan Graham, the owner of Aidan’s, expected as much.

“I think this is just the beginning,” he said on his way out of Town Hall.

Aidan’s is finishing up a top-to-bottom renovation that included the addition of a second-floor dining room and balcony. Though the pub has a liquor license already, it only covers the first floor of the establishment at 5 John St., so Graham applied with the town to expand the area covered by the license.

With no objections from the Police Department and indications that the council would support the application, it appeared that Graham had nothing to worry about and he would get an expanded liquor license.

But then Roiter, whose development abuts Aidan’s, filed an objection with the town. He raised concerns that renters in the luxury apartments he carved out of the former Harriet Bradford Inn would be negatively affected by the expansion. The main issue, his lawyer Scott Spear said last night, is late-night drinking on the pub’s balcony.

Roiter’s argument is that Aidan’s liquor license, which has been in place for years, was never valid in the first place. Because Aidan’s sits within 200 feet of St. Michael’s Church, it needed General Assembly permission to hold a liquor license. The pub never got that permission.

“Aidan’s has been operating illegally with a license that shouldn’t have been issued,” Spear told the council.

Roiter knows the regulations so well because he needed to get the same exemption for a proposed restaurant in the first floor of the Harriet Bradford, the building at 423 Hope St. that was once a flophouse and is now the centerpiece of his plan for shops and eventually 28 residential units in the Belvedere at Bristol.

In May, before the conflict surrounding Aidan’s arose, the council voted to support Roiter’s request for the exemption. The legislature granted the amendment last month. As part of the legislation submitted by Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., D-Bristol-Portsmouth, Gillary’s Tavern, which neighbors the site of a new building Roiter is building on Thames Street, was also given an exemption. According to town officials, Aidan’s was originally part of the legislation but was removed because of a map error.

Spear argued that the council couldn’t even consider the liquor license expansion until Graham is able to secure the General Assembly exemption.

Though he battled with council members throughout his presentation, he did try to strike a more conciliatory tone at points. He said that his client is not trying to shut down Aidan’s. Roiter, he said, just wants a compromise in which Aidan’s agrees to stop serving alcohol on the balcony at 10 p.m. The pub closes at 1 a.m.

But the council wasn’t convinced. Council member David Barboza compared Roiter’s tactics to blackmail.

“Basically what you’re saying is Aidan is being coerced,” he said.

Councilor Mary Parella said that officials had questioned the wisdom of locating upscale residences in the heart of downtown years ago. Roiter, she said, had responded then that noise wouldn’t be a problem for his development.

“There are existing businesses in the downtown area,” Parella told Spear. “Your client knew full well what he was getting into.”

On the advice of Town Solicitor Michael Ursillo, the council voted on the liquor license expansion. Ursillo said that Spear’s argument that Aidan’s shouldn’t have been given a liquor license may have been flawed. Graham’s lawyer, Gordon Fox — the House Majority Leader — said that Aidan’s liquor license is grandfathered in because the building where the pub is located has continuously housed a bar since at least 1910. In addition, St. Michael’s does not oppose the license expansion.

The council’s decision was welcomed by the scores of townspeople who showed up to support of Aidan’s last night. Seventeen people spoke in favor of the pub, including Graham’s business partner Betty Anne Waters. (Spear and Roiter were the only ones to speak in opposition.)

Marguerite Peruto, who works at Aidan’s part-time, quoted a customer’s description of the pub as the “pot-bellied stove of Bristol.”

“If we let the fire go out, this town will be very cold indeed,” she told the council.

akuffner@projo.com