Manager of Maungaturoto Hotel loses licence after repeated breaches

The on-licence of Maungaturoto Hotel has been suspended for 14 days and the manager's certificate cancelled for breaches of the operating licence. Photo / Sarah Warrington

A Northland hotel owner has had his bar manager's certificate cancelled after drinking while on duty and a customer was seriously assaulted and knocked unconscious.

Satnam Singh, of the Maungaturoto Hotel, was found by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority to have repeatedly breached the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

His manager's certificate was cancelled from November 11, while the on-licence issued to his hotel was suspended for 14 days, from 9am on November 27 to 9am on December 11.

It is the third time since November last year the on-licence at Maungaturoto Hotel has been suspended.

Police alcohol harm reduction officer for Whangarei and Kaipara, Sergeant Howard Clement, applied to the authority for the suspension and cancellation orders.

He said the hotel operators allowed people on the premises to become drunk and allowed disorderly conduct on site.

Police were called to the hotel about 8.50pm on June 5 this year after a report of a person lying on the road unconscious.

When officers arrived, about 15 people were drinking and milling around the front of the hotel.

Police were informed by a patron coming out of the hotel that an assault had taken place in the garden bar.

The person was allegedly punched to the ground by a number of people and kicked in the head.

Singh came downstairs and said he was aware about the person lying on the road unconscious but denied knowledge of the alleged assault. He admitted having had a "couple of beers" but said he was not drunk.

Singh told the authority he was trying to sell the hotel.

"The breaches admitted by the respondents (Singh and the hotel) are very serious and the way in which the second respondent as owner/operator has operated the premises, at least until June 2016, is most unsatisfactory," the authority said.

Meanwhile, the authority has suspended the on-licence of Brauhaus Frings on Lower Dent St in Whangarei for 48 hours from January 5 to 7 next year for selling a glass of beer to a 17-year-old female patron.

The manager's certificates for Kayla Neilson and Gordon Leddy were suspended for 28 days from January 5 next year.