Strip club licence bid refused

Bill Unwin
Bill Unwin
The chairman of the Queenstown Lakes district's licensing committee has slammed a strip club's application for a special trading licence on Easter Sunday as ''lacking integrity''.

Committee chairman and retired district court judge Bill Unwin also apologised to the agencies opposed to the application by Club 88 owner Queenstown Hospitality Ltd for having their time wasted.

The committee refused the company's special licence application for a ''Leather and Lace''-themed third birthday celebration at a hearing in Queenstown yesterday.

The application attracted heavy criticism from police, the medical officer of health and the council.

Public Health South Medical Officer of Health Dr Derek Bell said the event lacked a birthday theme, and was scheduled to be held two months after the strip club's actual third anniversary.

The event was being promoted as a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation, yet he had a letter from the Foundation saying it had no knowledge of it, and would not want to be associated with such an event on Easter Sunday.

''The event has all the appearance of having been contrived in order for the premises to trade on a day for which normal trading is prohibited by law.''

Club 88 manager Richard Peterson said he was representing the company at the hearing because owners Adam Nagy and John Jones were overseas until Saturday.

The R20 event would run from midnight until 4am on Easter Sunday, and included pole dancing, a ''slave auction'', fire breathing and a ''two girls adult show''.

He was ''a little miffed'' the company's owners had not contacted the Breast Cancer Foundation.

Sergeant Linda Stevens, of Queenstown, said the event's run sheet did not include a birthday cake or speeches, and was simply ''business as usual'' for the venue.

''It appears to be a contrived event to circumvent the normal trading hours.''

It is the second year the committee has considered applications for special liquor licences during Easter weekend.

The committee was formed after the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 came into effect in December 2013. The law gives local authorities more control over their liquor licensing area.

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