By CATHY ARONSON
TAUPIRI - The Fire Service is hitting unsafe old wooden taverns where it hurts by threatening to suspend liquor licences.
The 100-year-old Taupiri Tavern narrowly avoided having its licence suspended yesterday after the service classified the building a potential death-trap.
The Waikato District Council gave the tavern until next Tuesday to install fire alarms and heat sensors.
But the building was given fire safety approval yesterday.
Waikato fire safety officer Craig Bain said the Taupiri hotel, 26km northwest of Hamilton, was one of many old two-storey taverns that could have their licences suspended if they did not comply.
Taupiri was targeted first because its manual fire alarms had not worked since January, he said, and its owners had ignored his requests to bring the building up to scratch for two years.
The owners, David and Rob Fowler, had also failed to remedy breaches of the Building Act.
"We decided to hit them where it hurts by threatening to take away their liquor licence and it made them sit up and act," said Mr Bain.
"If the taverns are happy to take customers' money, they should also protect them."
He said licences could be suspended under the Sale of Liquor Act 1989 for non-compliance with public health or fire precaution requirements.
District council policy manager Mark Buttimore said it was the first time the council had come so close to suspending a licence since the act came into force.
Rob Fowler said he did not mind installing the fire alarms.
But he was surprised to learn that the service had the power to withdraw his licence, and said he did not understand why his premises had been targeted instead of other old taverns.
Mr Bain said he had visited about 20 Waikato taverns in the past two years, and only half had improved their fire safety.
He had lost his patience and was willing to ask other councils to suspend liquor licences.
Mr Bain said old taverns were fire-prone because they were not designed for fire safety, burned quickly and were hard to modify if they were protected under the Historic Places Act.
"We are talking about pubs where intoxicated punters could carelessly discard a cigarette and within minutes the whole historic building is little more than charred remains and lives are in extreme risk."
He said buildings were required to met fire safety standards under the 1991 Building Act.
But some slipped through the gaps if they were constructed before the act and had not been renovated since.
Old taverns face fire safety shock
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.