An on-licence renewal application for The Bog Irish Bar was heard by Dunedin’s district licensing committee yesterday.
The application was opposed by the city’s chief licensing inspector, who questioned the owners’ suitability over two incidents within their first year of holding a liquor licence.
In late April, an inspector discovered two of its three ground-floor fire exits were "pad-bolted and locked" while the premises was open for business.
That culminated in an application by firefighters to suspend its licence, which was ultimately withdrawn.
Then in September, the pub was hit with a warning from police after a number of patrons at a drunken 21st birthday gathering yelled abuse at officers from its upstairs bar area.
At yesterday’s hearing, alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Steve Jones said the warning had no expiry and was a mark on the record.
"Any subsequent issues may be looked at for further prosecution."
While not unheard of, it was irregular "to have consistent issues in the first year of a licence", Sgt Jones said.
The majority of the pub’s clientele were students and there was an increased demand to monitor it "due to the risk that’s been posed from previous failures".
The owners had been consistently willing to work with the agencies, but were "still slightly lacking, as far as what we’ve seen from the last year", he said.
"I think they’d acknowledge that they’ve come from the North Island — they might not have been exposed to this level of risk before in relation to the students."
The Bog co-owner Karandeep Singh said since the September incident they had followed "a very strict protocol".
Any time they felt patrons had drank enough alcohol, they cut them off and told them to leave — resulting in a lot of removals being recorded in their security log.
"We want to establish ourselves as a really safe place, a safe drinking place that follows all the rules.
"We have been very strict."
The pub had hosted further functions since September, which were "absolutely immaculate" and "everything was followed to the tee", Mr Singh said.
He was confident the pub was now fully compliant and staff were thoroughly trained.
The past six months had been challenging, he said.
"But we have emerged with greater knowledge and improved practices, performing better than last year in these respects."
Chief licensing inspector Tanya Morrison said the pub had always had "a slightly rough appearance" and a degree of rubbish.
It could be very dark, especially at night, and it was not uncommon to see the odd cup, bit of serviette or food debris.
She advised the owners to "seriously consider the aesthetics of your premises and what kind of clientele you’re attracting, what kind of behaviours you want to have".
The Bog was "obviously high risk", as evidenced by the pub’s security logs, Ms Morrison said.
"The number of intoxicated persons noted in those logs, in terms of evictions and denials, is staggering reading, from my perspective.
"It’s a very high number."
While it was good that it appeared intoxicated patrons were being removed, it was "very concerning to read on such a regular basis that that many patrons are allegedly getting to that point".
She questioned, after holding the licence for nearly a year, why the pub had become stricter only after the September incident.
"This shouldn’t take an incident that’s effectively got them in trouble, to have a warning, to now trigger some action."
The hearing was adjourned.
