Hotel has licence suspended

Te Aute Hotel had its licence suspended after selling alcohol to 17-year-olds. Photo / File

Te Aute Hotel has had its liquor licence suspended after selling alcohol to two minors.

The well known Spanish Mission establishment on SH 2 failed a purchase operation in March where liquor was sold to two 17-year-olds by the barman.

Fourteen premises in the wider Hastings area were checked, with the pub in Pukehou being the only premises to fail the operation carried out by police, Hastings District Council and District Health Board staff.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority ordered the suspension of its liquor licence for seven days from 7am Monday, September 16 to 7am Monday, September 23.

Te Aute Hotel duty manager Doug Kidd told Hawke's Bay Today he served the two minors but claimed it was simply a case of mistaken assumptions.

"It's a bit of an entrapment if you ask me, but that's the law," Mr Kidd said.

He admitted he did not ask the teenagers for identification when serving them

"I just assumed they were old enough, it was just one night and they looked much older."

The duty manager's certificate has been suspended for four weeks.

The Authority noted that the hotel's licence had previously been suspended twice for failing purchase operations and the pub's manager had also previously been suspended.

Hastings District Council's community safety manager Phil Evans said that he was "disappointed" in the management of the hotel. He warned that under new liquor licensing legislation which comes into effect in December, any further offences of this nature could result in the cancellation of the hotel's licence and the manager's certificate.