Criterion Club Hotel general manager Corranne Flannery said she was hurt but had learnt her lesson after her manager's certificate and the Alexandra hotel's liquor licence were suspended.
Mrs Flannery approached the Otago Daily Times yesterday in response to an article stating the hotel's liquor licence had been suspended for 48 hours from 7am on Saturday, August 27 and her manager's certificate had been suspended for four weeks in September.
The suspensions came after the Liquor Licensing Authority found there had been three breaches of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989.
Mrs Flannery said she had been at the hotel for "13 years with no trouble".
She confirmed police had found a 16-year-old in the bar but said the girl had not been drinking.
"She was there to pick her sister up. Tony [Mr Flannery] had let her in because there was a crowd of shearers out the front."
When asked about the sale of liquor to a person under the age of 18, Mrs Flannery would not comment directly but later said they had a "lesson to learn that night ... One of our staff members did that".
She said the staff member still worked for the hotel.
Tony Flannery's general manager's certificate was also suspended for three weeks in October, but when approached by the Otago Daily Times on Tuesday, he declined to comment.
