"It's our responsibility to look after our customers.
"We take it really seriously, and we have been trying really hard to work with police and the council," Mr Meikle said.
Mr Meikle said bar staff were undergoing training similar to that required to obtain a manager's licence.
"We are looking at stages of intoxication, going through scenarios. Everyone has to be on board.
"The bartender serving someone needs to be able to recognise the stages of intoxication as well [as a manager].
"Not being allowed to be intoxicated in a bar is quite difficult to police, because people can walk in quite sober looking, have one drink and they change."
Mr Meikle believed "pre-loading" was a factor, as the average spend in Illuminati on a Friday and Saturday night was $10 per patron - just one and a half drinks each.
He feared if Tauranga bars were eventually forced to close earlier, it could create chaos as young people would drink at private unsupervised parties.
"Here they are supervised, we have camera surveillance, people monitoring their liquor input, 12 security watching them.
"The police have got video cameras in the streets."
Mr Meikle also co-owns Brewers Bar, which will also be closed on Friday, October 28, for having intoxicated patrons on the premises.
Super Liquor Mount Maunganui, next to Brewers Bar and owned by the same licensee, closed on Friday, September 16, as a penalty for selling alcohol to an under-age person in December 2010.
This is the second imposed closure for both Temple Bar and Super Liquor within the last year as the result of breaches of the Sale of Liquor Act.
Bobby's Bar in Mount Maunganui has also had its licence suspended for two three-day stretches.
