John Devereux was before the Dunedin District Licensing Committee yesterday, seeking an on-licence to reopen a bar in the empty Terminus building in Great King St.
The building was formerly home to the Break bar, which closed in 2015, and Mr Devereux wants to reopen it as Sunset Sam.
Mr Devereux is the owner of Carousel bar in Stuart St, and, before that, the Bath St nightclub.
However, his application for an on-licence for Sunset Sam was opposed by police, who questioned his suitability, alleging repeated licence breaches at Carousel.
The incidents included at least two breaches of the venue’s 50-person capacity, including on the night of last year’s Pink concert, when 81 people were found inside.
Police also found an allegedly intoxicated patron inside the venue on December 22 — early on the morning after "Tradies" night — who appeared to have wet themselves and to be falling asleep.
There was also a problem with a failure to display some food menus inside the venue on one occasion.
Mr Devereux was questioned about problems at yesterday’s hearing by police alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Ian Paulin.
Asked by committee chairman Colin Weatherall why he should be granted a licence, Mr Devereux suggested the future of both bars could be on the line.
If he was unsuitable to hold a licence for Sunset Sam, his suitability for Carousel would presumably be challenged in future as well, he said.
That was despite never previously having had either his own manager’s certificate, or a licence for one of his venues, suspended.
"I have been in this industry a long time and I know what I’m doing.
"It’s a very, difficult position for me, when the onus is on me to prove my suitability. All I can rely on is my history."
Earlier, the hearing was told overcrowding on the night of the Pink concert was the result of "human error".
A doorman had arrived late and failed to count patrons already inside the venue before beginning a count of those entering the venue.
When police arrived, they found 81 patrons inside.
A second capacity breach, on August 5, occurred when the doorman went to the aid of a doorman dealing with a disorder incident at a nearby bar.
Sgt Paulin suggested the bar’s reliance on text messages to alert other staff, if the doorman was called away, showed a systemic failure.
Mr Devereux’s lawyer, Trevor Shiels, said there was no evidence to support a third alleged breach.
The allegedly intoxicated patron found inside Carousel was being escorted from the bar by an off-duty manager when spotted by police.
The bar’s general manager, Tess Cooper, told the hearing the patron did not seem "entirely intoxicated" to her, although she did not assess him directly as he was already being removed.
Also, as the patron was surrounded by police, she "couldn’t get near him" anyway.
"You guys [police] were all over him, treating him like a criminal," she said.
However, after being challenged by Sgt Paulin, she accepted there was a wet patch around the patron’s groin.
Carousel’s staff had already introduced procedural changes, including new hourly counts of patrons, and a second entrance to the venue was likely to be added later this year, boosting Carousel’s capacity.
Mr Devereux said the new Sunset Sam bar, if approved, would likely open in March and have a capacity of 218 patrons.
It would be a "pop-up" venue, as the building’s owners intended to demolish it sometime in 2020, he said.
A decision was reserved at the end of yesterday’s hearing.
