An on-licence application by Loboski Venues Ltd for DropKicks, a live venue to be housed in the building's upstairs area, is being heard by Dunedin’s district licensing committee today.
Co-owners Mili Oxley Lobo and Baden Oxley — who also own Errick’s and Ombrellos — announced their plans to reopen the building’s upstairs entertainment premises as DropKicks in August.
Student-led alcohol harm reduction group Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) Ōtepoti opposed the application, along with Bede Crestani and Elspeth McMillan — the parents of University of Otago student Sophia Crestani who died at a Dunedin flat party in 2019.
In their submission, SSDP said they believed the applicant had been "alarmingly presumptuous" in announcing the new venue before its liquor licence was granted.
Mr Crestani's lawyers also criticised the applicant’s promotion of the venue before obtaining the licence.
Neither the medical officer of health nor licensing inspector Tanya Morrison opposed the application, although Ms Morrison expressed some concern about the initial promotion of the venue.
At the hearing, counsel for Loboski Venues Ltd Gerard DeCourcy said the project was about music and providing a safe place for people to experience it.
"It's very much taking live music back to a very traditional home for that music in Dunedin.
"It's not a student bar, it will not operate as a bar independent of any event."
Errick's was ran by the same company and was "a similar but different project" that had informed the way DropKicks would run if granted an on-licence.
Ms Oxley Lobo said her family had a long background in hospitality, and she had been a business owner herself since the age of 18.
The former Captain Cook Tavern was a site long-associated with live music and DropKicks' advertising had only been in relation to the new venue's music.
Ms Oxley Lobo said she wanted to redefine the term "drop-kick" — which she said was used as a derogatory reference used against students and music-goers — and wanted to associate it with something worthwhile and of quality.
The city's music and hospitality scene had faced significant challenges in recent years and they wanted to do their part to support live music in the city and contribute to a healthier and safer nightlife.
"We do not want to be just another venue, we want to be a lifeline for Dunedin's community."
They would not be promoting "cheap alcohol" nor running alcohol promotions, and they would aim to keep the venue affordable so it remained accessible.
Alcohol would be sold at the venue, but the primary focus would be events and live music.
The proposed capacity was 250 and Ms Oxley Lobo said it was her hope the venue would be open five days a week.
Committee member Karen Elliot said the listed duty managers were spread across the company's three premises, and questioned what would happen if there was a large amount of people at numerous of their locations simultaneously.
Ms Oxley Lobo said the number of duty managers present depended on the size of the event, and they planned to hire more staff once they knew DropKicks could open.
It would only be open for live music events or when hired for private functions.
Committee chairman Colin Weatherall said DropKicks would be in North Dunedin, which predominantly contained a large student population, and questioned if such groups would seek the venue for private functions and whether student participation would be a significant part of the life of the venue going forward.
Ms Oxley Lobo said DropKicks was not limited to students and was for people who wanted to see live music, regardless of if they were students.
Counsel for SSDP and Mr Crestani, Dr Liz Gordon, said loving music was a part of the student experience and it was "very likely" the student population would go to DropKicks.
The venue was as much about alcohol as it was about music, which went together "like a horse and carriage".
She believed the DropKicks venture would not go ahead if the on-licence was not issued, as she believed alcohol was such a key part.
"It is very, very clear from this process it is about the music and the alcohol.
"This could be run as an alcohol free venue . . . alcohol and music don't always have to go together."
The hearing continues this afternoon.
