The Otago Daily Times yesterday revealed Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) had lodged an application to have the The Bog Irish Bar’s licence suspended after an inspector discovered two of the three ground-floor fire exits were "pad-bolted and locked".
Vincent McLachlan, of Karitane, said he went to The Bog for a drink with friends while he was in Dunedin to watch the test match between the All Blacks and Ireland in July 2022.
"And it was chocka."
They tried to leave through an exit on to George St, but it was "completely and utterly blocked with kegs and other stuff".
"It wasn’t stuff that had just been temporarily put there ... looked as if it was a dumping spot."
An exit on to London St was also "completely blocked" and they could only leave back through the front door on the corner, which they had come in from, Mr McLachlan said.
He questioned if Fenz or police were actually patrolling Dunedin’s central city pubs or proactively investigating premises before they got a liquor licence.
"I just worry now that if something had of happened and there’s been a stampede trying to get out that door, which was absolutely hopeless — there would have been chaos."
He said he did not put in a complaint at the time because he believed it might have been a one-off and assumed the issue would be fixed.
"But to see it again now seems incredible that it’s still happening and no-one has checked it out."
Fenz Otago community risk manager James Knapp said Fenz had not received any information or complaints from members of the public about The Bog in relation to fire safety over the past few years.
"If we had, we would have acted immediately, as we have in this current case.
"We would encourage anyone who sees a potential fire risk at a licensed premises to report it to our district office so we can look into it."
Student safety and licensed premises were two strategic priorities of its local risk reduction team, Mr Knapp said.
Fenz had recently undertaken additional staff training to enable it to more safely undertake proactive compliance checks at times when premises were operating at peak capacity.
This included completing these checks at the same time police conducted their compliance checks, he said.
A police spokeswoman said they regularly conducted liquor licence compliance checks at a range of licensed premises.
Karandeep Singh — the co-director of Gurbani Club Ltd, which trades as The Bog — said yesterday they bought the business in August 2024, so the incident Mr McLachlan described occurred "well before our ownership".
The fire exit issues described by the inspector constituted an "isolated incident" that had happened with a new manager.
They had done everything in their power to resolve the issue, within a day of being notified by Dunedin’s district licensing committee, and would ensure it never happened again, Mr Singh said.
But he disputed the exits were padlocked and said there was "just a latch".
"We take full responsibility and genuinely care about the safety of our patrons, which is why the fire issues have already been resolved."
A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday.
