The right of individuals to decide when they will visit licensed premises will be taken "all the way till justice is done", the spokesman for the bar group challenging the Queenstown Lakes District Council says as the case heads to the Court of Appeal.
Good Group Ltd chief executive Russell Gray said the hospitality consortium was of the "strong view" the council erred in restricting trading times for licensed premises in central Queenstown from 24 hours to a 4am curfew.
The new closing times began in August and applied as bar licenses came up for renewal.
Last week, Justice Christine French granted leave for Good Group to take its protest to the Court of Appeal after the group's challenge was dismissed by the High Court in June.
The issues "do not appear to have ever before been considered by the Court of Appeal", she wrote in her reserved judgement.
My Noodle Ltd (Sky Bar), Central Otago Breweries Ltd (Harry's Pool Bar), Chuck Norris Ltd (Minibar) and Barmuda Ltd were the named appellants against the Queenstown Lakes District Council as first respondent and the police as second respondent.
Justice French asked if the Liquor Licensing Appeal Authority "abdicated its statutory decision-making role and discretion . . . by adopting the policy as the sole reason for declining the appellants' applications for all 24-hours trading", in her judgement.
Justice French noted the "overwhelming majority" of public submissions on the draft policy were opposed to any reduction in the existing 24-hour licensing policy.
"That's what we've made our whole case over," Mr Gray said.
"Our view had always been that the process the council followed was flawed. They went through the submission process only to ignore 97% of public submissions who were against any change."
A hearing date for the appeal was yet to be scheduled.
Bardeaux, the fifth establishment in the resort owned by Good Group, was still operating until 5am, although its licence was due for renewal next year.
