Police, Public Health South and the Dunedin City Council's licensing inspector are opposed to renewing the licence for owner Sam Chin and have listed issues in their respective reports to the district licensing committee, which will hear the application next week.
Alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Ian Paulin, in his report to the committee, described Mr Chin's answers to police as "unacceptable'' and said they "collectively point to a lack of suitability to hold a liquor licence''.
"When queried if he abides by the under-25 policy for identification, he replied he doesn't, and only IDs someone if they don't look 18,'' Sgt Paulin said.
"He then could not state the three forms of ID accepted under [sale of alcohol regulations], and thought that a birth certificate was acceptable.
"When asked how he deals with an intoxicated person, he struggled. He said they were given water and placed to the side.
"He had no knowledge of the SCAB [speech, co-ordination, appearance and behaviour] intoxication assessment tool.''
He also told authorities he never kept an incident log, Sgt Paulin said.
During the meeting on December 15, he told authorities another person was running a function during the coming weekend which they would collect profit from alcohol sales.
"When queried by the liquor inspector, Tony Mole, Mr Chin retracted this statement and said he would go halves,'' Sgt Paulin said.
"It was pointed out that this was illegal unless a special licence was held by the other party. Mr Chin then said he would run the event under his licence.''
"For any licensee these answers would be poor but for an operator of Mr Chin's experience they are unacceptable.''
Public Health South medical officer of health Dr Keith Reid said, in his report, Mr Chin's "attitude appears to have been questionable for several years''.
"During the interview, the applicant stated he felt the reporting agencies were picking on him by asking ‘all of these questions' and complained about intoxication in the Octagon,'' Dr Reid said.
"The questions asked were the standard questions asked at every visit regarding licence applications.''
He questioned the "veracity'' of the information provided by Mr Chin during the meeting.
"Mr Chin stated that he does not run discounted drinks promotions, yet on 17 December 2015 references to free drinks promotions were found on the Sammy's Entertainment Venue Facebook page,'' he said.
"The applicant has previously received a warning from police regarding [irresponsible promotion of alcohol] in 2014. This was regarding the provision of five free drinks to each patron (included in the entry fee for the event) at the Otago University Law Ball.
"This warning was also in regard to ... allowing a person to become intoxicated.''Licensing inspector Tony Mole also questioned whether the licence should be renewed.
"I do not have confidence that the applicant is suitable and request that the matter be put before a hearing,'' he said in his report.
When contacted by the Otago Daily Times Mr Chin declined to comment on the issues raised.
The application will be heard by the district licensing committee on Wednesday.
