The proposal is part of the Selwyn District Council’s review of its local alcohol policy and is contrary to changes being made by other councils.
Currently, off-licence premises have to stop selling alcohol at 9pm.
Under the proposed changes, alcohol sales would be allowed until 10pm.
It comes as off-licences in Auckland will have their hours cut from 10pm to 9pm from today, while Christchurch City Council is also considering a similar move.
The extra hour of sales was welcomed by bottle store owners spoken to by Selwyn Times.
Lincoln Super Liquor owner Gulshan Gulati said the current hours were “annoying”.
“10pm will be good because sometimes people are coming in late looking for a bottle store.”
Gulati was currently finding people were getting their alcohol from Christchurch due to the 9pm closing time in Selwyn.
In a survey conducted by the council, 62.4 per cent of the 364 respondents supported the move.
The council has also proposed that the district licensing committee have discretion on whether individual premises can display external alcohol advertising.
“Most people check for sales online anyway, so the signage rules would not matter to us,” Gulati said.
Survey results showed people were evenly split 50.8 per cent against, 49.2 per cent for the introduction of restrictions on alcohol advertising being displayed on external facing signage.
Other proposed changes include restricting stand-alone bottle stores from opening close to locations including schools, early childhood centres, sport clubs and grounds; at clubs a duty manger must be present at all times; and bar staff must complete serve-wise training at least once a year.
Submissions are open until 5pm on December 11. Hearings will be held in the final two weeks of January.
