Two teenage boys have been accused of making up claims they were sexually assaulted by an Ipswich bar manager.

Both boys, now aged 18 and 19, gave evidence against Scott Doughty during the opening of a three-day trial at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Doughty, 47, of Parliament Road, faces four counts of sexually assaulting one boy when he was aged 15 and 16, and three counts of sexually assaulting the other boy when aged 16 and 17.

He was accused of pinching, touching and groping the boys’ bottoms and groins by Matthew Sorel-Cameron, prosecuting, who said: “It would be brushed off as horseplay, but the crown says it was a liberty to take with two boys who did not consent, and whose consent was never sought.”

Doughty accepts tapping one boy on the bottom but claims it was not sexual and denies nipping or pinching his bottom and testicle area, making him bend over and touching his bottom, or brushing his penis with a hand.

He accepts ‘horse-nipping’ the older boy’s thigh but denies it was sexual. He also accepts lifting him up on one occasion but denies groping his genitals, or “flicking” his penis at another time.

The younger boy said Doughty initially came across as friendly but added: “What he would class as banter was taken too far – slapping and pinching my bum; saying ‘you’re gorgeous’ and ‘if I was 30 years younger’, which I took to mean he’d come on to me.”

The boy agreed Doughty was “gregarious and up-front” when asked by Juliet Donovan, for the defence, who said: “He was tactile and affectionate with everyone. I suggest the only time you were touched was a horse-nip below the bottom, and you made this all up.”

He replied: “I’ve come here to tell the truth.”

The older boy then described painful horse-nips moving closer to his genital area over time, and that he witnessed Doughty behave in an “obviously sexual” manner towards the other alleged victim.

“I thought I’d better keep my mouth shut, but I wish I’d said something earlier,” he added.

The court was played footage of Doughty kissing the boy on the cheek before holding him aloft by the torso and groin, but Ms Donovan argued the incident was not sexually motivated, before suggesting the boy was lying and had motive to fabricate the claims.

Doughty, a manager at Gresham’s Sports and Social Club, is expected to take the stand with four defence witnesses on Tuesday.