Aldermen voted 7-4 for a review at their meeting despite community criticism of any attempt to silence the clock.

Alderman Dean presented his notice of motion for a review of the clock's night chiming for the second time.

It lapsed at the last council meeting because he was absent.

He told the meeting yesterday that he had no real opinion on the matter either way but he had been approached by a number of businesses, including the Quest Apartments, asking him to raise the matter.

Quest Apartments representative Robert Matson told the meeting that the accommodation house had so many complaints from customers being woken by the clock chimes that it had double-glazed many of its windows.

Alderman Dean said that he realised the heritage value of the 100-year-old clock but times had changed.

He said that a petition signed by Quest customers that he couldn't present to the council because they were not ratepayers carried comments like "wretched bell" and "it should be chucked out".

He had sought advice from a Sydney-based company that was happy to conduct the review and said that silencing, or subduing, the clock chiming at night was possible.

Mayor Albert van Zetten, who was one of the few aldermen to speak out in favour of the chiming, said that he had also done some research into its workings.

He said that the historic clock's 24-hour mechanism meant that there was no way it could be silenced just at night.

"It would mean that if you silenced it between 10pm and 6am then it would also be silenced between 10am and 6pm," Alderman van Zetten said.

"It would be a very expensive exercise"

An emotional Alderman Ray Shipp said that the clock had been chiming for 100 years.

"Would you silence London's Big Ben?" he said.

"It's a heritage clock, it's Launceston, it's magnificent.

"It should be status quo - that's my chime."