A 40-year-old Dunedin labourer has been remanded in custody after allegedly torching a Central Dunedin bar.
Glen Michie appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday afternoon on three charges of arson.
One relates to an early morning fire which gutted the street frontage of Di Lusso Bar, in lower Stuart St, while the other two relate to the attempting torching of a car in Cumberland St and an armchair which was set alight in the driveway of a Cargill St address.
A police spokeswoman said Michie was arrested at the scene of the bar fire.
Michie's counsel, Noel Rayner, did not make a bail application on the defendant's behalf but asked for interim name suppression.
Mr Rayner cited some ''sensitive'' issues in support of his application but Judge Kevin
Phillips declined.
''He has to establish extreme hardship and really there are no grounds whatsoever,'' he said.
Michie stood in the dock with his head bowed throughout the hearing. He was remanded in custody by consent to reappear in three weeks.
A bail application could be brought at any time before that, Judge Phillips said.
The fires started with the furniture fire in Cargill St at 3.30am and finished with the Di Lusso Bar fire about 4.05am.
A Fire Service spokesman said the blaze at Di Lusso Bar was noticed by firefighters attending the attempted car fire in Cumberland St. Four appliances, from Willowbank, Dunedin, St Kilda and Roslyn, were used.
East Otago fire risk management officer Mark Bredenbeck said the cause of the bar fire remained under investigation.
''There are suspicious circumstances but as to the exact nature of the cause the investigation is still ongoing.''
Most of the damage was confined to the exterior of the building and there was little smoke damage to the interior, he said.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze by a fire alarm system - at about the same time it was noticed by personnel attending the Cumberland St fire.
Mr Bredenbeck praised the building's owners for having the alarm system.
The bar is in the category 2 listed Allbell Chambers. The heritage building is more than 100 years old.
Attempts yesterday to contact its owners and the bar's owner were unsuccessful.
-Additonally reported by Rob Kidd.
