Opposition voiced to liquor-store plan

Police have slammed the evidence of a company director seeking to set up a bottle store in the middle of Mount Maunganui's downtown.

Sergeant Nigel McGlone, Western Bay's liquor licensing co-ordinator, described the evidence of Inderpreet Singh as vague and lacking substance. He was commenting on how Mr Singh handled questions during yesterday's District Licensing Committee hearing into the application by Go Liquor to establish a bottle store in the former Vogue Lighting shop in Prince Ave.

Mr Singh, 27, a joint director of Go Liquor, wants to open a fourth liquor outlet in the Mount and Papamoa. His other businesses are Hot Spot Liquor on Oceanbeach Rd, Omanu, and Papamoa Liquor Centre and Thirsty Liquor in Papamoa.

Mr McGlone criticised Mr Singh for the "general vagueness" of his responses, particularly the target market of the bottle store, the type of products it would sell and policies to reduce alcohol harm.

"His answers were vague and had no real substance to them," he said. He was also not happy with Mr Singh's response to questions about customers pre-loading on alcohol purchased from the proposed bottle store before they went into nearby bars. When Mr Singh was quizzed by committee member David Stewart about whether the bottle store would provide more of an opportunity for people to preload, he said they were probably doing it already at other stores down the block. If people were going to do it, they would do if from his premises or other places. "It is about educating them - you can't really stop them by refusing service."

Mr Stewart said there could be a conflict with the Sale of Liquor Act from the effects of people buying alcohol from off-licences and pre-loading when they were so close to bars.

Mr Singh said if they saw someone doing it they would warn them and threaten not to serve them again. He told committee chairman Murray Clearwater that they had done nothing to engage local residents and business owners before the hearing.

When Mr Clearwater asked what locals' views would have been, Mr Singh replied "probably not good ... they would not want it there".

Mr Singh said their views would not have affected his thinking because of the way everything was hyped about the liquor industry, everything was negative. After quizzing Mr Singh about the objectives of the 2012 Act, Mr Clearwater said Mr Singh was still living in the old 1989 Act. Mr Singh could not see why opening another bottle store would create harm because people had to buy their alcohol from somewhere.

Mount downtown retailer and objector Mark Rundell said he struggled to believe that the bottle store would tend towards selling high-end premium wines and spirits. It would be a discount liquor store and people would be naive to think otherwise, he said. The application received 18 objections including one from Mount Mainstreet, representing 217 members.